Demanded interdisciplinary subjects for integration in medical education program from the point of view of graduated medical physicians and senior medical students: a nationwide mixed qualitative-quantitative study from Iran.

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to detect interdisciplinary subjects for integration into the medical education program of Iran. METHODS: A qualitative-quantitative method was used. Firstly, interdisciplinary subjects demanded by medical graduates and senior medical students were defined by qualitative study. In the second stage, questionnaire was developed which based on the findings of qualitative stage, experts' opinion and reviewing of the national general guide of professional ethics for medical practitioners. Questionnaire consisted of demographic, occupational and thirteen interdisciplinary items. These items consisted of social determinants of health, social and economic consequences of disease, social prescribing, physicians' social responsibility, role of gender, racial, ethnic, social and economic issues in approach to patients, role of logic and mathematics in clinical decision-making, philosophy of medicine, maintaining work-life balance, self-anger management, national laws of medicine, religious law in medical practice, health system structure, and teamwork principles. Level and importance of knowledge and self-assessed educational needs were asked about each item. In the third stage, a national online survey was conducted. SPSS 25 was used for statistics. RESULTS: By content analysis of data in qualitative stage, 36 sub-themes and 7 themes were extracted. In the quantitative part, 3580 subjects from 41 medical universities across Iran participated in this study. 2896 (80.9%) were medical graduates and 684 (19.1%) were senior medical students. Overall, knowledge about interdisciplinary items was low to intermediate, while high to very high knowledge ranged from maximally 38.7% about socioeconomic consequences of disease to minimally 17.2% about social prescribing. Participants gave the most importance to the having knowledge about self-anger management (88.3%), maintaining work-life balance (87.2%) and social determinants of health (85.8%), respectively. However, national laws of medicine (77.6%), maintaining work-life balance (75.4%) and self-anger management (74%) were the first top three educational demands by participants. CONCLUSION: This study revealed a low to moderate level of knowledge about interdisciplinary topics among both graduated medical physicians and senior medical students. These groups showed a strong demand and tendency to know and to be educated about these topics. These findings underscore the urgency for educational reforms to meet the interdisciplinary needs of medical professionals in Iran.

Outpatient education, a momentous in clinical education: a qualitative study of medical students', faculty members', and residents' perspectives.

BACKGROUND: Even though a lot of scholars have been looking at outpatient education lately because it has become more popular and they want to know about its successes, failures, and problems, we have not been able to find a complete study. Therefore, our study aims to gain a deeper understanding of the various aspects of outpatient education based on the actual experiences of medical students, faculty, and residents. METHODS: Face-to-face and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data for this qualitative study. Until data saturation was reached, the interviews continued. A total of 21 participants from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, including medical students, residents, and teachers, were enrolled. The Guba and Lincoln-first written standards for scientific accuracy in qualitative research were used to figure out how reliable the data were. RESULTS: Fourteen categories were extracted from four main themes. The results show that four categories: "physical space and equipment," "prerequisites related to the curriculum," "teaching skills development," and "near-peer teachers" should be considered for outpatient education preparation. Theme 2, "implementation requirements," included "student dimension," "faculty's commitment to planning," and "program supervision." Theme 3, "challenges of outpatient education," was described by five related categories, including "curriculum implementation challenges," "student challenges," "faculty challenges," "system-related challenges," and "patient-related challenges." Finally, two categories emerged about facilitators of outpatient education: internal and external facilitators. CONCLUSION: Outpatient clinics represent a crucial aspect of medical practice. To effectively leverage this resource, preliminary planning, considering all the prerequisites, paying attention to the implementation requirements, getting to know the challenges, and trying to solve them, especially with incentives, are essential.

A comparison of the effects of teaching through simulation and the traditional method on nursing students' self-efficacy skills and clinical performance: a quasi-experimental study.

INTRODUCTION: Simulators in a clinical environment provide a space where students can acquire skills and experience under the supervision of their professors without any worries or inflicting any harm on their patients. The current study aimed to compare the effects of teaching through simulation and the traditional method on nursing students' self-efficacy skills and clinical performance. METHOD: The current study was quasi-experimental and adopted a pre-test & post-test design. The population consisted of 122 students of nursing, out of whom 100 students were selected as the sample. Then, they were randomly divided into an experimental and a control group. A questionnaire assessed the students' self-efficacy skills and clinical performance before and after implementing the instructional programs. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques in SPSS 23. FINDINGS: The mean of the participants' self-efficacy scores increased significantly after the intervention (from 87.57 to 142.13). Moreover, the mean of the participants' clinical performance increased significantly after the intervention (from 2.16 to 4.57). The findings indicated that simulation teaching significantly affects nursing students' self-efficacy and clinical performance. CONCLUSION: Simulation was recommended as an effective teaching methodology, particularly in nurses' internship wards. In other words, acquiring the essential skills through applying the simulation method is recommended before entering real-world environments.

Medical Students' Point of View About Virtual Classes, Technological Infrastructures, and Length of Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-sectional Study.

Background: Most in-person classes are being held via virtual platforms, and bedside education has faced serious challenges during the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study evaluated the Iranian medical students' point of view regarding the virtual classes and length of education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We designed a cross-sectional study using convenience sampling about 6 months after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. We formulated 4 questions regarding their satisfaction with infrastructures and contents of virtual classes, length of education, and their perspectives on how clinical and practical education should continue during the COVID-19 pandemic. We designed an online questionnaire and sent it to medical students all over the nation using virtual platforms and groups in social media. The attained data have been coded and analyzed with SPSS version 22 using descriptive and analytic tests. Results: A total of 1999 medical students participated in the study, and most students were from type 1 universities (50.4%) and were in the clerkship stage (33.3%) of education. Medical interns (mean = 3.34 [SD = 1.29]) were most satisfied with the infrastructures of virtual classes compared with students in basic sciences (mean = 2.93 [SD = 1.18]), physiopathology (mean = 2.62 [SD = 1.26]), and clerkship (mean = 2.56 [SD = 1.31]) stages (P < 0.001). Also, students in type 1 and the nongovernmental (NG) type universities were significantly more satisfied with the content, with mean scores of 2.94 and 3.14, respectively, and infrastructures, with mean scores of 2.77 and 2.98, respectively, of virtual classes than students in type 2, with mean scores of 2.59 and 2.42, respectively, and 3 universities, with mean scores of 2.54 and 2.34, respectively (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Infrastructure is a crucial component in virtual learning, and it can also affect satisfaction with the provided virtual content. Also, providing better clinical content should be performed for medical students before their internship during the current pandemic situation.

Challenges and opportunities from the COVID-19 pandemic in medical education: a qualitative study.

INTRODUCTION: Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many higher education and health centers have faced challenges. Educational leaders have tried to manage the new situation, but the human infrastructure was not ready for such an event. This study aims to explain the challenges and opportunities of the COVID-19 pandemic for medical education. METHOD: This qualitative study used conventional content analysis to collect data from face-to-face and semi-structured interviews. The interviews continued until data saturation was reached. The participants were 12 students and 14 faculty members at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. To ensure data rigor, we used member checks, peer checks and an external observer. RESULTS: Three main categories and 15 subcategories were extracted. The findings showed that four subcategories, e.g. perception on feasibility of e-learning, standardizing of e-learning, dedicated teaching, and networking and interdisciplinary collaborations, affected the development of medical e-learning. The main opportunities from the COVID-19 pandemic for medical education were classified into five subcategories: attitudes to e-learning and adaptability, preventing students' separation from the educational environment, documentation and monitoring education, take control of own learning, and increasing perceived usefulness. The main challenges were divided into four subcategories, e.g. noncompliance with virtual classroom etiquette, inadequate interactions, time limitations, and infrastructure defects and problems. Finally, participants believed that methods of evaluation in e-learning were more suitable for diagnosis and formative evaluations. Generally, two subcategories were extracted, e.g. formative and summative. CONCLUSION: Medical schools have necessarily moved towards e-learning to compensate for the interruption in classroom education, such that traditional classes have been replaced with e-learning. These rapid, extensive changes in teaching and learning approaches have consequences for medical schools.

Impractical CME programs: Influential parameters in Iran.

Background: Traditional approaches in Continuing Medical Education (CME) appear to be ineffective in any improvement of the patients' care, reducing the medical errors, and/or altering physicians' behaviors. However, they are still executed by the CME providers, and are popular among the majority of the physicians. In this study, we aimed to explore the parameters involved in the degree of effectiveness of CME program in Iran. Methods: In this study, 31 participants, consisting of general practitioners, CME experts and providers were recruited to participate in in-depth interviews and field observations concerning experiences with CME. Application was made of the qualitative paradigm along with the qualitative content analysis, using grounded theory data analysis methodology (constant comparative analysis). Results: Based on the participants' experiences, the insufficient consistency between the training program contents and the demands of GPs, in addition to the non-beneficiary programs for the physicians and the non-comprehensive educational designs, created a negative attitude to the continuing education among physicians. This could be defined by an unrealistic continuing education program, which is the main theme here. Conclusion: Impracticable continuing education has created a negative attitude toward the CME programs among physicians so much that they consider these programs less important, resulting in attending the said programs without any specific aim: they dodge absenteeism just to get the credit points. Evidently, promoting CME programs to improve the performance of the physicians requires factual needs assessment over and above adaptation of the contents to the physicians' performance.

How to create a successful mobile learning strategy for medical education during lockdowns?

BACKGROUND: Mobile learning has played an important role during the COVID-19 pandemic and medical schools now consider it as an effective educational method in current and future crises. In this qualitative study, an attempt was made to demonstrate the principles of designing a mobile learning strategy in medical education from the perspective of experts. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted by the qualitative content analysis method. The data were collected from July 2022 to Feb 2023. Twelve participants were included in this study from Iran's medical universities, consisting of two members of the Higher Council of Virtual Education, three educational directors, three clinical faculty members, two faculty members specializing in e-learning and medical education, an educational vice, and a dean. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analyzed by Granheim and Lundman's (2004) method. RESULTS: Out of twelve participants in the study, eight (66%) were males and four (44%) females. Data were classified into eight categories and one theme. Based on the participants' experiences, the main theme, that is, "the principles of medical education design in mobile learning," included pedagogical component, interactive design, effective and comprehensive analysis, achieving objectives with the mobile learning platform, generating micro- and interactive e-content, teaching-learning interactive methods, course implementation and interactive evaluation at both micro- and macro-levels. CONCLUSION: Data analysis revealed that in addition to the eight principles in the medical education design in mobile learning, the participants prioritized the two principles of pedagogical component and interactive design over other principles in educational design. Using a successful mobile learning strategy in situations of restrictions limiting physical presence may improve the quality of medical education.

What Happened to Simulation-Based Education in Outpatient Setting in The 21st Century: A Scoping Review.

Introduction: Simulation-based education (SBE) is an instructional approach that aims to accurately recreate real-life scenarios and engage learners in the practical application of lesson content. By replicating critical elements of clinical situations, SBE facilitates a deeper understanding and better preparation for managing such conditions in actual clinical practice. SBE offers promising prospects for improving medical education and patient care in various settings, such as outpatient clinics. Therefore, this scoping review aims to determine to what extent the most effective components and standards of the simulation have been considered in outpatient education. Methods: The present scoping review adheres to the guidelines outlined in the "Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist" and the "Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Reviewers' Manual". This review focused on articles that specifically focused on the use of simulation in outpatient education. Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and ERIC were searched for keywords related to simulation, ambulatory care, outpatient clinics, and medical education from January 1, 2001, to August 12, 2023. Results: The search indicated 513 articles, which were narrowed down by title and abstract relatedness. Twenty-nine articles entered the study's second phase, and after reviewing their full text, nine articles that explicitly reported simulation use in outpatient education remained. Based on the findings of eligible articles, the ten most frequent components of SBE that should be considered and followed discussed. These features were training facilitators, pre-briefing sessions, the type of simulation techniques, the site of simulation participation, the simulation duration, unit of participation, extent of direct participation, Simulation fidelity, feedback, and debriefing and reflection. Conclusion: SBE is a contemporary method of practical training for medical students that involves realistic modeling or simulation of clinical situations. It enhances learning effectiveness and provides a safe, educational atmosphere for teaching and learning. Designing simulations adhering to established standards and carefully considering essential components improves efficiency and effectiveness.

A scientometric study of unsafe behavior through Web of Science during 1991-2020.

Objectives. This scientometric study aimed to investigate research and hot topics on unsafe behavior. Methods. The study was performed using scientometric analysis mapping tools, such as CiteSpace, Gephi, MINITAB and VOSviewer, for statistical analysis. Studies published in Web of Science were included. Results. The first study was published in 1987. The results of the study showed that the Safety Science journal with 111 studies (10.45%) presented most of the published studies in this field. The USA and China were the two highest producing countries, with 289 and 229 published studies, respectively. The results of keywords and hot topics showed that between 1991 and 2000 safety climate, safety performance and modeling were ranked as the first to third most frequent words, and during 2001-2010 safety performance was removed from the list of top 10 keywords while safety climate and modeling were ranked, respectively, ninth and sixth most frequent. Finally, between 2011 and 2020, the keyword of organizational factors rose to first rank, indicating the significance of this keyword in the future. Conclusions. According to the results of the present study, it can be concluded that future studies on unsafe behavior can be conducted in the field of organizational factors.

Startup-Based Learning as an Innovative Method for Pharmacy Education: Medicinal Plants Course Model.

Background: Familiarizing students with knowledge-based businesses is one of the goals emphasized in the developed educational systems worldwide. This study aimed to design a startup-based learning model (SBL). Methods: As a qualitative research study, startup teams were formed by the pharmacy students of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in 2020. This model was used to train 120 students as pharmaceutical entrepreneurs through related lectures, simulations, and field activities. We employed this model for students to become familiar with the various stages of examining market needs, knowledge-based company registration, intellectual property, logo design, and even pharmaceutical product development. Students' feedback was assessed with a questionnaire designed by the team of researchers, and its results were used to analyze the course and improve the quality of the proposed model. Results: Most of the studied indices revealed that the students rated this model as good or excellent. Satisfaction with more important indices includes student creativity and ideation in educational activity (60.7%), attractive presentation (60.4%), teamwork among learners (62.2%), appropriateness of evaluation method (65.4%), understanding how to make herbal remedies (49.1%), learner participation in the educational activity (74.8%), entrepreneurial motivation (60.7%), and applicability (64.4%). Conclusion: We found this model effective in boosting students' satisfaction, creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit. Lecturers also play a facilitator role in addition to specialized training. Therefore, in this model, both lecturers and students can grow more and make education more attractive. This study, for the first time, demonstrated that SBL could be applied in education systems and make the students more interested in educational content and help them to prepare for the job market.

Care burden dimensions of informal caregivers having patients with bipolar disorder (challenges and alternatives) (qualitative study).

BACKGROUND: Taking care of patients with bipolar disorder (BD) makes critical challenges for their informal caregivers (ICGs) and forces them to tolerate considerable burden. This qualitative study explored the dimensions of ICGs' care burden (CB) based on their own experiences and the patients' therapists. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a qualitative study which was conducted based on conventional content analysis through semistructured and in-depth interviews. Purposive sampling was used to select the participants including 13 ICGs and 14 therapists (2 psychiatrists, 10 psychiatric nurses, and 2 clinical psychologists). Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using Graneheim's 2004 principles. RESULTS: Qualitative analyses yielded three major themes: "challenges associated with the nature of BD," "challenges related to the ICGs," and "challenges related to interventions." The categories of the first theme entailed "individual-oriented characteristics of BD" and "social-oriented characteristics of BD." The categories of the second theme consisted of "social stigma," "psychiatric problems and helplessness of ICGs," "financial costs related to providing cares," and "insufficient self-efficacy of ICGs in cares provision." The categories of the last theme included "educational interventions" and "organizational interventions." CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that the burden of ICGs have individual, social, and organizational aspects. Every one of them impacts the severity of their burden remarkably. The depth of the therapists' experiences has a significant role in designing the interventions to reduce this burden. The present investigation emphasized the constitution of a comprehensive framework related to all factors affecting burden in a developing country.

The Factors Affecting Unsafe Behaviors of Iranian Workers: A Qualitative Study Based on Grounded Theory.

BACKGROUND: Some researchers state that they are not yet able to provide a deep understanding of the underlying causes of unsafe behaviors (UBs). Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the attitudes and experiences of Iranian workers of UBs. METHODS: This present study was conducted in 35 industries using a semistructured interview based on grounded theory. Forty participants were interviewed, including 13 industrial safety and health experts and 27 workers and supervisors. The analysis of the present study consisted of a three-step coding process including open, axial, and selective coding. RESULTS: The results showed that the factors affecting UBs could be classified into three categories: organizational, individual, and socioeconomic factors. Organizational factors were divided into 6 parts: procedure and environmental conditions, communications, monitoring, organizational safety culture, resource allocation, and human resources. Socioeconomic factors had three subcategories: community safety culture, type of organizational ownership, and economic problems. Finally, the individual factors were classified into two categories of personality traits and individual competence. CONCLUSION: The results showed that organizational factors were the most categorized, and it is estimated that this factor has a more important role in the UBs. Of course, to better understand the close relationship between these factors and find the weight and importance of each factor, it needs to measure it with multicriteria decision systems.

The Effect of Educational Intervention on the Improvement of Nontechnical Skills in Circulating Nurses.

BACKGROUND: Nontechnical skills are necessary for clinicians' safe performance and prevention of errors in the operating room. Educational intervention is a useful way to improve these skills, which are a vital area for improvement. Circulating nurses are surgical team members whose work depends heavily on using nontechnical skills. This study is aimed at assessing the effect of an educational intervention on the improvement of circulating nurses' nontechnical skills. METHODS: This semiexperimental study was conducted on 300 circulating nurses divided into the intervention and no intervention groups each containing 150 participants. The nontechnical skills were assessed using the circulating practitioners' list of nontechnical skills. Then, the intervention group received training regarding these skills, and the two groups were evaluated again. After all, the data were entered into the SPSS 24 software and were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney tests. Furthermore, Kendall's tau, independent sample t-test, and one-way ANOVA were used for assessment of relationship between median scores and demographics. RESULTS: The results revealed a significant improvement in the scores of all domains of nontechnical skills in the intervention group (p < 0.05). The highest and lowest improvements were observed in teamwork (42%) and situational awareness (16.7%), respectively. After the intervention, the scores of some of the behaviors were still below the average level or were not improved significantly. CONCLUSIONS: Circulating nurses' nontechnical skills can be improved by educational interventions. However, regarding the low scores or no improvements in the scores of some behaviors, other intervention types such as policymaking and correcting the existing hierarchies in the operating room can be useful to complete the educational interventions.

Improving continuing medical education by enhancing interactivity: lessons from Iran.

INTRODUCTION: Continuing Medical Education (CME) has been considered as a lifelong commitment for doctors to provide the optimal care for patients. Despite a long history of creating CME programs, outcomes are far from ideal. The present qualitative study aims to clarify the barriers affecting effectiveness of the CME programs in Iran based on the experiences of general practitioners. METHODS: Sixteen general practitioners were recruited to participate in in-depth interviews and field observations concerning experiences with CME. The study was performed using a qualitative content analysis method. The codes, categories and themes were explored through an inductive process in which the researchers moved from specific to general. RESULTS: The participants' experiences identified a number of barriers, particularly insufficient interaction with the instructors; additional problems included the teachers' use of an undifferentiated approach; unreal and abstract CME; and ignorance of the diverse reasons to participate in CME. CONCLUSION: Based on the study results, there are multiple barriers to effective implementation of CME in Iran. The key barriers include insufficient interaction between the trainees and providers, which must be considered by other stakeholders and program designers. Such interactions would facilitate improved program design, invite more specific tailoring of the education to the participants, allow for more effective educational methods and set the stage for outcome evaluation from the learners actually applying their new knowledge in practice. Replication of these findings with another sample would improve confidence in these recommendations, but these findings are broadly consistent with findings in the educational literature on improving the efficacy of CME.