Ghazal Mansouri; Zeinab Sadat Rooholamini; Fatemeh Karami Robati
Abstract
Background: Choosing a medical specialty is an important choice for medical students and the healthcare system.Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the interest of last-year medical students in choosing a future medical specialty and determine effective factors in it.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional ...
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Background: Choosing a medical specialty is an important choice for medical students and the healthcare system.Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the interest of last-year medical students in choosing a future medical specialty and determine effective factors in it.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study of 201 medical students was performed in Iran in 2019. All medical students who completed the internship period by the end of September 2020 were selected by census method. A questionnaire was applied, the validity and reliability of which had already been registered in the Statistics Center of Afzalipour Hospital, Kerman, Iran. Data analysis was performed using descriptive methods, including frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation, and SPSS software (version 20). A significance level of P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: About 98% of students intended to choose a future medical specialty. The highest number of interested students were female (66%) and single (83.2%), with a mean age of 26.69 ± 12.22 years. The parents’ educational level of most students interested in continuing education was a bachelor’s degree or lower (52.3%). “Achieving a better economic position” (91.4%) was the most important factor for choosing a specialty. Most participants were interested in ophthalmology (18.2%). The factors “specific working hours” and “easy residency period” were indicated most frequently as effects on the preference for ophthalmology.Conclusion: The present findings provide significant insight into creating strategies to attract a number of medical students in other specialties based on the needs of the Iranian healthcare system.
Azadeh Azemian
Seyed Saeid Seyedian; Abdolhussein Shakurnia
Abstract
Background: Medical residents choose to pursue their careers based on multiple internal and external factors. These factors, in turn, affect not only their personal future but the overall status of the health care system in every region.Objectives: To determine the factors affecting radiology residents' ...
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Background: Medical residents choose to pursue their careers based on multiple internal and external factors. These factors, in turn, affect not only their personal future but the overall status of the health care system in every region.Objectives: To determine the factors affecting radiology residents' choice of specialty career choice.Methods: This research was a cross-sectional study. The statistical population was all radiology residents (N=48) of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical sciences studying during the academic year 2018-2019. The data were collected by a researcher-made questionnaire. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by the experts, and its reliability was calculated using Cronbach's alpha (α = 0.71). Data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical tests (Mann-Whitney U test) by SPSS version 18.Results: The mean age of participants was 30.7±2.6 years. The most important factors influencing the choice of radiology specialty were: “Acquiring knowledge and competency for better treatment” (mean 4.18 out of 5), “convenience and lack of emergency” (3.90), and “good career future" (3.88), respectively; While “family and friends' advice” (3.18) and “possibility of continuing education and fellowship” (3.07) were the least important factors. “Higher-income” was significantly more important in the specialty choice among male residents (p < 0.05).Conclusion: This study provided valuable information on the factors influencing the choice of radiology specialty. Understanding specific factors that influence decisions to enter the specialty of radiology may provide proper guidance for human resources planners to consider the needs of the community’s health system.
Mina Mobasher; Fatemeh Iranmanesh
Abstract
The primary purpose of medical ethics education is to prepare qualified physicians, who can improve the community’s health while respecting the patients’ rights and values (1). To improve the professionalism of medical students and physicians, basic components of professionalism (e.g., communication ...
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The primary purpose of medical ethics education is to prepare qualified physicians, who can improve the community’s health while respecting the patients’ rights and values (1). To improve the professionalism of medical students and physicians, basic components of professionalism (e.g., communication skills and ethics) and professional characteristics (e.g., accountability, altruism, professional excellence, and moral behavior) should be taken into consideration (3). In other words, ethics education attempts to communicate the governing virtues and values related to physicians’ interactions with patients, colleagues, and community (2). First and foremost, administrators and authorities of educational institutions should openly advocate for professional training and professional commitment; this ensures the success of related programs. Second, the etymological features of professionalism (historical roots, definitions, values, attributes, behaviors, and responsibilities) should be explicitly explained. Third, the learning environment should be in coordination with the objectives of the institution and professional regulations. Also, institutions should act based on their professional and organizational values, such as accountability, impartiality, honesty, integrity, and service, as their behaviors can influence the individual behaviors of learners and physicians.
Farangis Shoghi Shafagh Aria; Parvin Samadi; Shahram Yazdani
Abstract
Background The development of professionalism is one of the fundamental goals of educational systems, especially in medical sciences. Medical students, in addition to acquiring clinical knowledge and skills, should somehow benefit from moral values and professionalism in order to practice in a professional ...
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Background The development of professionalism is one of the fundamental goals of educational systems, especially in medical sciences. Medical students, in addition to acquiring clinical knowledge and skills, should somehow benefit from moral values and professionalism in order to practice in a professional manner. The development of professional ethics is heavily influenced by the hidden curriculum affected by changes in the educational system. The health reform plan is launched in Iran in recent years. Objectives The current study aimed at qualitatively explaining the effects of changes to the educational system on the development of the professionalism in medical residents. Methods The current qualitative study was performed by the content analysis method. A total of 26 interviews were conducted with 12 prominent professors of medical education, 13 third-year internal medicine residents, as well as a focus group including 10 residents. The purposive sampling method with maximum diversity was used in the current study and continued until data saturation. Data were analyzed using the content analysis method. The Lincoln and Guba criteria were used to increase the credibility of the findings. Results The most important finding of the current study was the challenge of developing professionalism due to environmental changes. The main theme included the challenges of professionalism development in the existing educational system, changes related to the sociocultural environment of the community, changes related to health reform plan, and the shift from training to health services and promtion of faculty member. Conclusions Changes and interventions in the health care services sector, such as the health reform plan, greatly affect the development of professionalism in medical residents. The plans that affect the health system, a special attention should be paid to the education section and the educational documents should be prepared initially and implemented simultaneously.
Malihe Dadgar Moghadam; Majid Khadem-Rezaiyan
Abstract
Background It is claimed that role-playing is a teaching strategy that has several advantages for both the teacher and student. This study aimed to compare two educational methods (oral presentation, a traditional method that is known to be teacher-centered, versus role-playing which is a student-centered ...
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Background It is claimed that role-playing is a teaching strategy that has several advantages for both the teacher and student. This study aimed to compare two educational methods (oral presentation, a traditional method that is known to be teacher-centered, versus role-playing which is a student-centered method). Methods This quasi-experimental study was performed between September 2013 and October 2014 in 95 medical students in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. Role-playing and oral (plus Microsoft PowerPoint) presentation were done by one assistant professor. There were no changes in the educational content nor the classroom. Using random numbers, half of each group received one of the methods as the first class and vice versa. At the end of each session, the standard satisfaction evaluating questionnaire was filled by the students. Results During the one-year duration of this study, 95 students were evaluated, and 46 (60%) of them were female. The mean age was 22.5 ± 1 years, and 28 (87.5%) were single. Role-playing had a mean rank of 54.64, and oral presentation had 21.45 (P < 0.001). This difference was present based on gender as well (P < 0.001). The satisfaction score was significantly higher for role-playing (P < 0.001). Conclusions Role-playing can be much more helpful in education and needs to be incorporated into the lesson plans.
Mahmoud Reza Dehghani; Abbas Kamyabi; Ali Akbar Haghdoost; Azadeh Rooholamini; Zahra Hoseini Nejad; Nematollah Mousapour
Volume 4, Issue 2 , January 2008, , Pages 67-76
Abstract
Background & Objective : Expensive medical educational cost long term education and difficult lessons all support this evidence that with unemployment of medical graduates in professional activities much national stock will be used vainly Due to lack of enough knowledge and documents about medical ...
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Background & Objective : Expensive medical educational cost long term education and difficult lessons all support this evidence that with unemployment of medical graduates in professional activities much national stock will be used vainly Due to lack of enough knowledge and documents about medical graduates career activities this study was conducted in order to evaluate their career status Methods : In a retrospective cohort study all 528 medical graduates who were graduated between 2001and 2007 from Kerman University of Medical Sciences were studied Necessary data latest career and educational status of medical graduates were collected by direct and indirect phone interviews In order to determine the impact of effective factors on career status and residency exam acceptance Logistic Regression and Survival analyses were applied Results : The access rate to graduates was 86% At least three years after graduation 62% of medical graduates were engaged in medical careers which were mostly in clinics military or social services personal offices and clinical specialties Among all subjects 40 persons (76%) were jobless and almost the same rate was doing non medical jobs Eighteen percent were engaged in working or studying in clinical specialties and others had left Iran Survival analysis showed that female physicians were employed faster and more in medical professions (median for female and male were 38 & 45 years respectively P=0009) Women were more successful than men in professional careers (12%) and residency exam acceptance (17%) which were not statically significant Mean score during education was effective factor on residency exam acceptance Conclusion : It seems that almost 20% of medical graduates in Kerman City were not employed in careers related to their education in long term prospect (more than three years after graduation) or left the country It is important to consider causes of male physicians failure in comparison with female physicians while there is a great need to male physicians services low income can somehow explain it
Saharnaz Nedjat; Hasan Emami Razavi; Arash Rashidian; Shahrooz Yazdani; Reza Majdzadeh
Volume 3, Issue 1 , July 2006, , Pages 1-10
Abstract
Background: It seems that in our country choosing medicine as the field of study in university is mostly due to family and society pressures rather than the applicants real interest in this field Objective: To determine medical students motives for choosing medicine and their outlooks for this profession ...
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Background: It seems that in our country choosing medicine as the field of study in university is mostly due to family and society pressures rather than the applicants real interest in this field Objective: To determine medical students motives for choosing medicine and their outlooks for this profession by using two qualitative and quantitative approaches Methods: The qualitative part includes two focus group discussions with interns and one focus group discussion with fresh students In the quantitative part complementary to the qualitative section the causes of choosing medicine field and the rate of students and applicants awareness toward the future statue of their profession were studied For this purpose 33 fresh students 107 interns and 88 applicants of medicine field after taking the entrance examination were selected through convenient and consecutive sampling and were asked to complete the designated questionnaire Results: In the qualitative part everybody agreed that the applicants own preference is not determining and almost all of the students mentioned the social prestige of a physician and medical field as the main cause of choosing this field In the quantitative part interest in the scientific content of this field (in 42%) the role of physician in health improvement (in 21%) financial income (in 143%) the social prestige of physician (in 13%) and the pressure of family and society (in 1%) were mentioned as the main causes of choosing medicine field On the other hand participants in the qualitative part of the study didnt have a good outlook for the professional status of general practitioners and some of them believed that continuing studies in medicine field is more difficult than other fields In the quantitative part of study as the age of participants increased they more asserted that in medical field the possibility of continuing studies finding job in good area and with good income is less compared with other fields Conclusion: The results of this study revealed that many students have not adequate awareness toward the medicine field and in choosing this field they are mostly under the influence of factors such as the pressure of family and the social prestige of the physicians Although these aspects were not obvious in the quantitative part of the study they were confirmed by all of the participants in the qualitative section of the study This fact denotes the importance of qualitative approaches or the combination of qualitative and quantitative designs On the other hand since with increase in the age of students their awareness toward the future statue of their field improves it is suggested that admission is not confined to academic criteria and appropriate metacognitive characteristics of applicants are also considered in admitting the students
