Developing a generic model of program accreditation in Iran.

INTRODUCTION: Higher education plays an important role in the development of countries in social, economic, cultural, and scientific aspects. Also, the field of healthcare is changing rapidly, and to provide better care, health professional students need to be trained at a higher level. This situation has placed demands on academic and clinical settings responsible for training professional health students. The main objectives of this research project can be defined as 1 -to investigate important issues of accreditation and assessment process of health professional education worldwide and 2-to design and develop a uniform, transparent, and scientific accreditation framework for health professional programs in Iran. METHODS AND MATERIAL: The research methodology for the design of a generic accreditation framework in health professional education is outlined by the following step-by-step (1 to 7) procedure according to the developmental research methodology and three phases considering analysis, development, and evaluation. RESULTS: The findings of the analysis phase showed that there is no specific structure and process for accreditation in Iran compared to other countries. The three most common actions of the accreditation include the following: 1. self- assessment, 2. peer-review and site visits, and 3. evaluation and reports. A review of the relevant literature and websites indicate that various assessment frameworks have been developed regionally, as well as internationally, to accredit professional health programs. However, most of these frames seem to be non-uniform, too complex, and non-transparent. In addition to these results, three themes were extracted from the interview analysis, "accreditation barrier," "theoretical foundation of accreditation," and "specific structure and process of accreditation" which indicates the need for education at various levels of educational managers and faculty members. Therefore, these issues were taken into consideration in the design of the accreditation framework of health professional educational programs. After two stages of evaluation from the point of view of specialists and experts of the educational secretariats of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, the final version of the program's accreditation framework and policy will be finalized. CONCLUSION: In Iran, despite the challenges and valuable activities in different educational secretariats, there was no coherent process that can be considered accreditation. In this study, self-study evaluation guide, external evaluation, standard development, and ethical guide for the programs accreditation were developed. The results of this study can help the educational secretariats of the Health and Medical Education Ministry that is based on the documents developed and operationalize their accreditation process and structure.

Selecting the Appropriate Method of Training Family Physicians in Iran to Achieve EMRO-Declared Perspective by 2030.

BACKGROUND: To achieve universal health coverage (UHC), the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO) reported that the standard requirement for family physicians by 2030 is three family physicians per 10,000 people. The purpose of this study was to select the appropriate method of training family physicians in Iran to achieve this goal. METHODS: The present qualitative study was conducted in conjunction with the method of agreement, during three sessions of focus group discussion (FGD) with 13 key persons at the national level to answer two research questions on choosing the most appropriate method of training family physicians and the criteria for this selection. After analyzing the data by content analysis method, a table was designed including family physicians' training methods and selection criteria and evaluated by participants in a 10-point spectrum. Then, the scores were summed and the mean was calculated for each method. RESULTS: The participants cited four methods, as well as 13 criteria. The Family Medicine Residency Program (FMRP) with a score of 93.4 and the Family physician bridging Program (FPBP) with a score of 68.38 were selected as the most appropriate training methods for the family physician to achieve the EMRO-declared perspective by 2030, respectively. CONCLUSION: According to the results of the study, the training of family physician specialist is the best method; but due to the long course and low output of this method, to meet the immediate needs of the health system and achieve the desired perspective, the FPBP approach was agreed as the most appropriate method of training the family physicians in Iran.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Family Physician MPH Course in Iran: The Viewpoints of Managers and Physicians.

BACKGROUND: Since 2009, the MPH course has been implemented in Iran. After eight years, this study aimed to evaluate family physician MPH program in Iran. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 255 graduates of family physician MPH, selected through simple random sampling and 95 managers who were involved in the design and implementation of the course in 13 universities, selected by census method, in 2017. Data collection tools were two researcher-made questionnaires, delivered to the subjects through emails. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 21 using central and dispersion indices, Chi-square, and independent t-test. RESULTS: Approximately half of the participants considered the course length as appropriate, 14.5% of them considered the duration of the course short, and 28.9% of them considered it long and there was no significant difference between the views of managers and physicians in this regard. On the other hand, there was a significant difference between managers and physicians regarding the variables of cost-effectiveness, motivation to participate in the course, the necessity of presenting the thesis, applicability of the content, comprehensibility of the content of the course, and desirability of the course load. Thus, a higher percentage of managers acknowledged the necessity of theses and duties as well as the applicability of the content, and a higher percentage of physicians referred to cost-effectiveness and the motivation to participate in the course. CONCLUSIONS: According to the results of the study, the participants have proposed some strategies, such as revising the educational content, clarifying the future position of the trained physicians and granting privileges, specifying the program goals, being accurate in selecting motivated applicants with an interest in this field in order to improve the quality of educational courses.