Letter to editor
Hossein Safizadeh
Volume 8, Issue 1 , July 2011, Pages 1-3
Editorial
Mohammad Reza Baneshi; saeide hajimaghsoodi; Azam Rastegari; Mohammad Reza Mahmoodi
Volume 8, Issue 1 , July 2011, Pages 4-13
Abstract
In recent years using statistics in medical sciences is increasing and statistics is an essential part of each research At present for each study design and for each type of data there are appropriate statistical methods which yield to valid results and inferences Familiarity with such methods is essential ...
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In recent years using statistics in medical sciences is increasing and statistics is an essential part of each research At present for each study design and for each type of data there are appropriate statistical methods which yield to valid results and inferences Familiarity with such methods is essential especially for those involved in the field of medical research as they might confuse majority of readers who are not familiar with details of statistical analysis and data interpretation Other consequences include waste of money time and energy spent for each research project In recent years some papers have been published to enhance researchers knowledge of statistics and its application in research methodology but still there are many methodological mistakes in manuscripts In this article we aim to demonstrate appropriate methods for data analysis We will discuss importance of confidence intervals and their advantages over Pvalue We will finally highlight common errors in data analysis such as univariate methods ignoring power in detection of difference between groups and using correlation coefficient to assess the agreement between scores
Original Article
Horieh Moosavi; Fatemeh Maleknejad; Ahmad Shariati
Volume 8, Issue 1 , July 2011, Pages 14-21
Abstract
Background & Objective: Theoretical and clinical teachings in dentistry are not always according to the dentistry curriculum requirements but they serve as the basis upon which Dentistry graduates start their own practice The aim of this study was to find the resemblance between dentistry curriculum ...
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Background & Objective: Theoretical and clinical teachings in dentistry are not always according to the dentistry curriculum requirements but they serve as the basis upon which Dentistry graduates start their own practice The aim of this study was to find the resemblance between dentistry curriculum requirements with clinical experiences in restorative clinics of Mashhad Dental School in the two academic years of 2007 & 2008 Methods: Recorded data related to the teachings devoted to posterior Amalgam and Composite restorations were gathered from the archive of Restorative Department of Mashhad Dental School Teaching volume was determined by considering the number of lecturers and sessions of preclinical exercises in the operative simulation laboratory during the General Dentistry program Data available for direct posterior restorations placed by fourth fifth and sixth year students were gathered from the students report papers The collected data were coded and categorized according to the surface number of posterior amalgam fillings (AFS1 AFS2 AFS3) and posterior composite fillings (CFS1 CFS2 CFS3) These finding were placed on spreadsheets of Excel program and the related bar graphs were constructed for comparison of the devoted teaching volume and practice with the Dentistry curriculum requirements and the number of posterior amalgam and composite restorations Results: Theoretical and practical teachings of amalgam and composite restorations have been in favor of amalgam with the ratio of 2 to 1 Clinically practiced posterior composite restorations were 3 times more than the curriculum requirement For the placement of three surface posterior restorations amalgam favored over composite Conclusion: Shift to the placement of posterior composite restorations needs to be addressed within dentistry curriculum so the newly graduated dentists are prepared to place composite restorations properly
Original Article
Mitra Gharib; Mohammad Reza Sarmadi; Issa Ebrahimzadeh; Hossein Zare; Amir Hossein Emami; Atoosa Gharib
Volume 8, Issue 1 , July 2011, Pages 22-32
Abstract
Background & Objective: As enrollment in virtual online courses continues to grow one of the stakeholders concerns is the enhancement of critical thinking in students This study was performed in order to answer this core question: what are the barriers and facilitating factors of critical thinking ...
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Background & Objective: As enrollment in virtual online courses continues to grow one of the stakeholders concerns is the enhancement of critical thinking in students This study was performed in order to answer this core question: what are the barriers and facilitating factors of critical thinking in virtual environment? Methods: This qualitative study is part of a mixed qualitative and quantitative study performed for developing the process of teaching critical thinking in virtual medical education program in which 7 eteachers and 11 postgraduate estudents (out of a total of 12 students) of virtual medical education discipline were investigated Data were gathered using a semistructured questionnaire All interviews were taperecorded transcribed and then analyzed using Strauss and Corbins constant comparative method Results: Participants had a variety of experiences about critical thinking improvement that were conceptualized in three major themes of: belief system including personal beliefs and aspects that are considered as constant during a short time period educational management including factors that can be manipulated by the educational leaders and critical thinking in virtual environment including motivating and limiting factors of critical thinking Conclusion: The results of this study highlight the barriers and facilitating factors of enhancing critical thinking in virtual environment Teachers educational planners and leaders can use the results of this study in order to improve their virtual programs and students critical thinking
Original Article
Alireza Mooghali; Saeed Talebi; Mohamad Hassan Seif
Volume 8, Issue 1 , July 2011, Pages 33-40
Abstract
Background & Objective: The main audience of information technology is human resources and in the case of lack of positive attitude toward information technology the desired results can not be achieved The main purpose of this study was to evaluate factors related to the attitudes toward the use ...
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Background & Objective: The main audience of information technology is human resources and in the case of lack of positive attitude toward information technology the desired results can not be achieved The main purpose of this study was to evaluate factors related to the attitudes toward the use of ICT among the students of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences School of Management Methods: The present c orrelation study was performed on the students of School of Management Shiraz University of Medical Sciences Data collection instrument was a standard questionnaire and data were analyzed by path analysis and Lisrel software Results: Variables of c omputer selfefficacy (023) perceived ease of using technology (037) and perceived usefulness of technology (028) had significant direct relationship with attitude toward use of ICT Computer experience (014) computer selfefficacy (020) and perceived ease of using technology (018) showed significant direct effect on perceived usefulness of technology It is also observed that computer experience (027) and computer selfefficacy (018) have significant direct effect on perceived ease of using technology and finally variable of computer experience (029) showed significant direct effect on computer selfefficacy Conclusion: Among the studied variables perceived ease of using technology had the greatest impact on the attitude toward ICT use and also the model showed appropriate and acceptable fitness with data
Original Article
Maryam Zeighami; Narjes Pour Bahaadini Zarandi
Volume 8, Issue 1 , July 2011, Pages 41-48
Abstract
Background & Objective: The development of each community is highly dependent on its educated individuals Therefore recognition of factors influencing academic achievement of students and attention to these factors are essential for success T he aim of the present study was to determine the relationship ...
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Background & Objective: The development of each community is highly dependent on its educated individuals Therefore recognition of factors influencing academic achievement of students and attention to these factors are essential for success T he aim of the present study was to determine the relationship between academic achievement and two factors of general health and coping styles among undergraduate students Methods: In this descriptive crosssectional study 302 Nursing Midwifery and Health students of Kerman Azad University were studied Grade point average was considered as an indicator of academic achievement and all participants were asked to complete Goldberg general health questionnaire (GHQ28) and Endler ;Parker questionnaire of coping inventory for stressful situation (CISS) Results: The Most Frequent average total score was 141699 (out of 20) In 633% of students total score of General Health was not in the normal range Students used taskoriented coping style more frequently than other styles (% 49)There was a significant negative relationship between academic achievement and two studied factors of general health and emotionoriented coping style Conclusion: Since general health and copying style can have significant effects on students academic achievement the presence of active counseling centers in universities for improving general health level of students and teaching effective copying styles is highly necessary
Original Article
Ali Akbar Haghdoost; Mahmood Reza Dehghani; Seyed Amin Ayatollahimousavi; Yasaman Nafisi; Elham Pourkhandani; Pardis Sasani; Azam Bazrafshan; Ali Pourkhandani; Elham Talebian; Rahele Zareshahi
Volume 8, Issue 1 , July 2011, Pages 49-57
Abstract
Background and Objective: Scholarship is of such a great importance that even the developed countries pay special attention to it while in developing countries it has been left unattended and there is no appropriate management to benefit from the its advantages For this scholarship has to be considered ...
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Background and Objective: Scholarship is of such a great importance that even the developed countries pay special attention to it while in developing countries it has been left unattended and there is no appropriate management to benefit from the its advantages For this scholarship has to be considered more seriously in the planning system of the country in order to achieve the highest yield beside all expenses Methods: Using registered documents as one of the best information sources 366 students awarded scholarship between19972003 were enrolled into the study Students personal information at the time of going abroad scholarship granted university local university and students major and duration of study were considered as useful information and excluded carefully from electronic and paper documents under the cooperation of the scholarship office of Ministry of Health and Medical Education Results: Most of the students were studying in European countries (697%) and Australian and Oceania universities (126%) The average duration of study was (±046) 407 years for PhD and (± 054)512 years for clinical specialty candidates showing a significant difference between the two groups (P‹ 0001) However the noticeable point is that nonreturning rate has been more than average for students who have received scholarship from those universities and also the ministry while scholarship holders from level three universities were successful in science generating Conclusion: The highest number of awarded scholarships belonged to the large universities in the country and based on the available information it is difficult to judge whether scholarship awarding has been distributed fairly among universities or not
Original Article
Pourandokht Asadollahi; Abdolhussein Shakurnia; Hossein Elhampour
Volume 8, Issue 1 , July 2011, Pages 58-66
Abstract
Background and Objective: One of the professional duties of university faculty members is student counseling T he aim of this study was to determine the attitudes of faculty members toward advising and counseling students in Ahwaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences (AJUMS) Methods: In this descriptive ...
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Background and Objective: One of the professional duties of university faculty members is student counseling T he aim of this study was to determine the attitudes of faculty members toward advising and counseling students in Ahwaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences (AJUMS) Methods: In this descriptive crosssectional study the attitudes of 114 faculty members toward students counseling were investigated using a 34item questionnaire applying 5point Likert scale The validity and reliability of the questionnaire had been confirmed through a pilot study Data were analyzed through SPSS software using mean and chi square test Results: Fifty seven percent of the faculty members participated in the study was females with teaching experience of 1485±88 years Faculty members asserted that they are interested in students counseling (mean score: 412 out of 5) but have moderate knowledge about the advisory task (mean: 361) Mean total score of the present statues of students counseling in the university was 338±056 and that of the ideal situation was 405±038 (p=0001) Conclusion: It is concluded that faculties have a positive attitude toward the importance and necessity of student counseling but believe that the implementation of this process is not properly monitored and supported in AJUMS Support of advisory teachers and more attention to their statues can be very beneficial in the process of students counseling
Original Article
Fariba Borhani; Fatemah Alhani; Eisa Mohammadi; Abbas Abbaszadeh
Volume 8, Issue 1 , July 2011, Pages 67-80
Abstract
Background & Objective: Ethical competency in nursing means performing nursing cares based on bioethics This type of competency is an important factor in improving the quality of nursing cares Realizing the obstacles of acquiring ethical qualification by nursing students is one of the basic necessities ...
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Background & Objective: Ethical competency in nursing means performing nursing cares based on bioethics This type of competency is an important factor in improving the quality of nursing cares Realizing the obstacles of acquiring ethical qualification by nursing students is one of the basic necessities towards nursing education development The development of ethical competency is one of the most important strategies which can help in improving nursing students capabilities and professional development This study aimed to identify the barriers to acquiring ethical qualification by nursing students through content analysis of their experiences Methods: A qualitative study was conducted using a content analysis approach Convenience sampling was employed to select 25 nursing students studying in nursing schools of Tehran public universities Tehran Iran Data were collected through semistructured interviews which were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim Data were analyzed using descriptive content analysis approach according to Graneheim and Lundman method Results: Eight themes emerged from data analyses including lack of motivation and interest of the students in their profession insufficient selfawareness the shortage of expert nursing instructors in ethics science inadequacy of curriculum inappropriate ethical teaching methods problems in evaluation of ethical characteristics poor interpersonal relationships and constraints in clinical setting Conclusion: It seems that in developing nursing students ethical competency both contexts and individuals have a role Therefore barriers of ethical competency should be sought in various aspects The present study provides special classification of obstacles that because of growing from a unique study context can be helpful in planning for the development of professional nursing ethics in education and clinical services Also the findings of this study can provide a base for further researches on this subject
Original Article
Maryam Dehghan; Morteza Anvari; Mohamad Hosseini Sharifabad; Alireza Talebi; Hossein Nahangi; Abolghasem Abbasi; Sadegh Yadegari
Volume 8, Issue 1 , July 2011, Pages 81-87
Abstract
Background & Objective: At present two teaching methods of traditional and integration are used for the theoretical instruction of anatomical sciences including anatomy histology and embryology It is thought that the integration teaching method can help Medical students especially in their clinical ...
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Background & Objective: At present two teaching methods of traditional and integration are used for the theoretical instruction of anatomical sciences including anatomy histology and embryology It is thought that the integration teaching method can help Medical students especially in their clinical course of study This study was designed to find the attitudes of Medical students of Yazd University of Medical Sciences toward this method in teaching anatomical sciences courses Methods: This study was done on Medical students who had been educated by the integration method Data collection was done by using a self administrated questionnaire in four domains of knowledge about the integration program of anatomical sciences courses facilities of the integration process order of course presentation and satisfaction of the integration plan Data were analyzed through SPSS software package Results : Most of the respondents had moderate familiarity with the integration method and asserted that this method had moderately facilitated their learning process in anatomical sciences courses According to most participants the rate of coordination between the organ system was moderate Students satisfaction of integration of embryology histology and anatomy courses was high In regard to the order of course presentation participants preferred histology embryology anatomy and physiology order Conclusion: Attitudes of Medical students toward horizontal integration method of basic sciences courses was moderate and based on the obtained results it seems that the best presentation order is respectively histology embryology anatomy and physiology
short communication
Narges Obeidi; Nilofar Motamed
Volume 8, Issue 1 , July 2011, Pages 88-93
Abstract
Background & Objective : Students learning in clinical teaching environment is an essential part of the curriculum This study was done in order to compare the viewpoints of students and teachers in Paramedical and Nursing & Midwifery Schools of Bushehr University of Medical Sciences about the ...
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Background & Objective : Students learning in clinical teaching environment is an essential part of the curriculum This study was done in order to compare the viewpoints of students and teachers in Paramedical and Nursing & Midwifery Schools of Bushehr University of Medical Sciences about the statue of clinical education environment in 1998 Methods: A total of 124 students passing field internship program and 21 ones of their teachers were participated Data were collected through a questionnaire consisted of 22 items in four major domains of learning opportunity learning support physical environment facilities and teacherstudent relationship Results: Field of study was Nursing in 355% Midwifery in 29% Operating Room technician in 177% and Anesthesiology in 177% of the participants In all domains except in physical environment facilities there was a significant difference between students and teachers mean viewpoint scores (p
short communication
Kourosh Vahidshahi; Mitra Mahmoudi; Mansour Ranjbar; Leila Shahbaznezhad; Sara Ehteshami; sajad shafiei
Volume 8, Issue 1 , July 2011, Pages 94-100
Abstract
Background & Objective: Nowadays early clinical experience (ECE) in Medical education has been developed with the aim of establishing efficient relationship between basic sciences courses and clinical education This study was done to evaluate the effect of early clinical experience on the attitudes ...
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Background & Objective: Nowadays early clinical experience (ECE) in Medical education has been developed with the aim of establishing efficient relationship between basic sciences courses and clinical education This study was done to evaluate the effect of early clinical experience on the attitudes of students in Sari School of Medicine toward basic sciences courses Methods: This interventional study (before and after) was done on all Sari Medical students in the 4th semester of basic sciences program An ECE program in 8 sessions was designed and developed during the 4th academic semester Attitudes of the students toward clinical importance of basic sciences courses were asked before and after the program by a valid and reliable questionnaire Data were analyzed using Wilcoxon Chisquare and McNemar tests and through SPSS 13 software package Results: From 47 students 42 ones were participated in the study (response rate= 89%) of whom 25 ones were female (60%) Early clinical experience could only affect the attitude of students in neuroanatomy course (P
short communication
Seyed Jalil Mirmohammadi; Zahra Hashemian; Mohammad Reaza Heidari Firozabadi; Mohammad Reza Dehghani; Abdolazim Eghbal
Volume 8, Issue 1 , July 2011, Pages 101-105
Abstract
Background and Objective: Educational services should be provided to students in a way that they feel they are in a safe environment Since registration is the first stage of educational process this study was conducted to survey the students satisfaction of the registration process Method: This is a ...
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Background and Objective: Educational services should be provided to students in a way that they feel they are in a safe environment Since registration is the first stage of educational process this study was conducted to survey the students satisfaction of the registration process Method: This is a crosssectional study performed by stratified sampling from each faculty of Yazd University of Medical Sciences Data were collected by a questionnaire and analyzed using C hi square ttest and oneway ANOVA and through SPSS software Results: In whole 200 students ( 82 females and 116 males ) were studied From all subjects 175 ones ( 893%) had been registered without using internet of whom 96 students ( 696%) mentioned that it had been due to the lack of easy access to the registration programs A total of 109 students considered officials familiarity with the registration process desirable while 7 students ( 49%) considered it undesirable According to 109 students ( 599%) officials assistance in students registration based on their job duties had been desirable and only 5 students ( 27%) considered it undesirable Mean satisfaction rate based on students sex (P < 005) local and nonlocal residency (P< 005) and the universitys faculty (P
