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.

Designing, implementing, and evaluating the process of action plan management at Isfahan Medical School.

BACKGROUND: Planning, organizing, and coordinating are inevitable in pursuing the faculty and university's goals, which cannot be achieved without having desirable goals, prioritization, and AP (action plan). This study designed, implemented, and evaluated APM (Action plan management) to increase the quality of educational, research, and management programs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A developmental study was conducted at Isfahan Medical School in 2019. The participants were selected by census sampling, and the target population comprised all deputies (8 ones) and departments (33 ones). This study was carried out in seven steps with a combined method of reviewing literature, document analysis, focus group, and questionnaire. The steps were forming the APM committee, regulating a planned process, designing and issuing the faculty's general policies, using expertise and getting feedback, monitoring the program, final reporting, and the poll. RESULTS: The response rate of the departments was 90.2%; the highest and lowest comprehensiveness scores of AP were 100% and 38%, and the highest and lowest performance monitoring scores were 100% and 25%. The mean and standard deviation of comprehensiveness and monitoring were 76 ± 0.1% and 69 ± 0.4%, 82 ± 0.1% and 73 ± 0.1%, and 72 ± 0.2% and 63 ± 0.4% in the basic science departments, clinical departments, and deputies, respectively. The highest agreement (4.8 ± 0.4) was related to the items "AP is as one of the important functions of management, looking to the future" and "AP is effective in the development of any organization." CONCLUSION: Regulating a designed process with a clear guideline, developing 24 general policies for the faculty, forming a committee to monitor the AP, and evaluating and giving feedback to the units were the most important results of this study. Also, the selected departments were introduced, and the progress report was presented to the faculty councils. Further studies were proposed to develop long-term plans, and information management was suggested to measure the progress of different units over time according to the defined goals.

Components of curriculum supervision regarding the accountability of universities of medical sciences.

BACKGROUND: This study was conducted on accountability, aiming to design components for monitoring the curricula of universities of medical sciences. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was a developmental one, conducted in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences with the document and literature review, a focus group, and a survey from 2018 to 2020. The first version of the components was designed by the library research and content analysis method. Following developing the initial tool, its validity was evaluated with a focus group, and the questionnaire was prepared according to face and content validity. RESULTS: In this study, 73 components were designed in eight domains for curriculum supervision, including requirements (12), needs and goals (6), content (10), teaching-learning strategies (10), educational materials and resources (5), educational time (2), educational setting (10), and evaluation (18). CONCLUSION: The components of curriculum supervision were designed due to their importance in the evolution and innovation of medical sciences, particularly accountability in the education system, and lack of relevant research. With these components, the current and optimal status of curricula can be determined in universities.

The effect of teaching integrated course of physical examination and radiological anatomy in practical limb anatomy on medical students' learning outcomes.

BACKGROUND: In the last few decades, the need to change the curriculum of basic medical science has been further emphasized. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of teaching integrated course of physical examination and radiological anatomy in practical limb anatomy on medical students' learning outcomes. METHODS: This was an experimental study. Medical students (of the 4th semester of medical education) were divided into intervention and control groups. Related topics of physical examination and radiological anatomy were added to the practical limb anatomy courses of the intervention group. Practical knowledge of anatomy, clinical applications of anatomical knowledge, students 'satisfaction, and students' attitude toward the anatomy course were assessed at the end of the study. Knowledge retention was assessed three months after the semester. RESULTS: The intervention group scored significantly higher mean scores in practical knowledge of anatomy test, clinical applications of anatomical knowledge test and knowledge retention test (P-value < 0.05). In evaluating students' satisfaction with the course, the intervention group was satisfied with the course and teacher performance and had appropriate attitude (Mean˃4, Max score = 5) towards the application of anatomy in medicine. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study showed that teaching practical anatomy with a clinical integrated approach can improve the practical knowledge of anatomy, knowledge retention, and clinical applications of anatomical knowledge. In addition, an integrated approach was associated with greater student satisfaction and it makes students have appropriate attitude towards the application of anatomy in medicine.

Designing, implementing, and evaluating the process of training advisor and teaching assistant at Isfahan medical school.

INTRODUCTION: The study aimed to design, implement, and evaluate the process of advisor and teaching assistant (TA) to increase the quality of cascade training in principal educational groups, presenting the obstacles and problems of this educational intervention and introducing them to educational planners. METHODOLOGY: This applied developmental research was conducted in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in 2017-2018 in principal educational groups (internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, gynecology, and cardiology). For this purpose, a working party called TAs was composed of managers, faculty members, and active and interested assistants, including 24 people. The action plan, bylaws, job description, and logbooks were completed by the method of the focus group. Getting the report, monitoring the activity, exchanging the ideas, and drawing up the various plans were continuously done through bi-monthly in-person meetings, and the virtual group was organized for monitoring, starting a training logbook, and doing semi-organized interviews to evaluate. RESULTS: In a total of 1131 h, various educational activities were conducted such as cooperating with the advisor, teaching some part of a class, holding a workshop, contributing to question design, preparing the educational resources, and organizing an educational round. CONCLUSION: Improving the knowledge, attitude, and practice of assistants in cascade training, regulating their activities, learning the teaching skills, and exercising them with the teacher were some of the most significant opportunities of this study.

Compare the educational achievement of medical students with different circadian rhythms in difficult courses of basic sciences.

BACKGROUND: Advantageous times for different people are different to some extent, considering the effective physiological changes during the circadian rhythm, in terms of the peak time of physiological activities. The goal of this study is to compare the educational achievement of students, with different morning-evening habits, in completing difficult and easy courses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This research is a retrospective descriptive-analytical study, which has been conducted on students of the fifth semester of General Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. The morning-evening habits of the students were determined by the Horne-Strauss 19-item questionnaire. The students were asked to determine the courses that were 'difficult' and 'easy,' using a researcher-made questionnaire. The students' scores in the considered courses during the five semesters were obtained from the Education Department of the Faculty and analyzed using the descriptive t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and the multivariate regression test in the SPSS software. RESULTS: Sixty-three students (67% girls and 33% boys) participated in this study, of whom 11, 60, and 29% were morning, morning-evening, and evening students, respectively. The mean scores of the difficult courses in all five semesters were reduced in the evening pattern compared to the morning and morning-evening patterns. Reduction of the mean score in the difficult courses, in the evening group, compared with the morning-evening and morning groups was observed in all five semesters among girls, but in three semesters among boys. CONCLUSION: This study showed that evening students experienced academic failure in difficult courses, which required a more cognitive performance. It is recommended that difficult specialized courses be presented at hours when all student groups have a better cognitive performance.

Curriculum leadership in the postgraduate: Gap between current and optimal status.

BACKGROUND: Identifying the strengths and weakness points is one of the effective methods to analyze current status, and prioritizing actions based on the gap between current and optimal status is necessary for short-term and long-term planning in departments and colleges. The aim of this study was to determine the gap between current and optimal status of curriculum leadership in the postgraduate courses in two Iranian universities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, a sample of 212 faculty members from the two Iranian universities (one medical and one nonmedical) was randomly selected through stratified random sampling method. Data were collected by using a researcher-made questionnaire, with 55 items categorized in four areas of main dimensions in curriculum leadership. The validity of the questionnaire was determined by curriculum studies scholars, and the reliability was confirmed as the Cronbach's alpha calculated 0.969. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics according to the variables. RESULTS: There was a gap in all dimensions and roles. The maximum gap (-1.70) with the highest frequency (98%) were related to "improving the educational atmosphere" dimension. As for items, the maximum gap (-2.41) was related to "society needs and expectations and the labor market" in "curriculum development and revision" dimension. CONCLUSION: The negative gap between all dimensions of curriculum leadership implies faculty members' dissatisfaction. Curriculum leadership at universities, colleges and departments of the study in all aspects need to be improved. Hence, it is necessary for managers to make use of the viewpoints of the faculty members to decrease the gap.

A transitional curriculum for preparing medical students for internship, does it work?

BACKGROUND: In a formative evaluation, we were supposed to find whether an innovative program has some merits to be continued or not. We also determined the critical points of the program. The evaluated program was a clinical pre-clerkship curriculum launched for departing to a less stressful medical clerkship. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed the information contained in the students' logbooks. Using Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure standardized questionnaire, we also assessed the students' perception of learning environment within six clinical departments. RESULTS: Totally, 64% of expected patient contacts, and teaching of more than 71% of required skills at 4 departments were carried out and students had more positive than negative perspective of their learning environments. CONCLUSION: The evaluand is a worthwhile program to be continued, though it needs some considerations for improvement.