Extraction of Alternative Activities to Diversify the Medical, Dentistry, and Pharmacy Student's Thesis
Abstract Background: Nowadays, the correspondence of medical, dentistry, and pharmacy student's thesis with health issues and challenges of the society is a crucial concern of universities of medical sciences. Because the product-oriented thesis can significantly affect students' scientific and practical abilities and lead to the provision of more efficient services to society. The present study aimed to extract alternative activities to diversify medical, dentistry, and pharmacy student's thesis in Kerman University of medical Sciences.Methods: This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study using the sequential exploratory design and conducted in the Education Development Center of Kerman University of Medical Sciences between February and June 2021. The qualitative phase aimed to extract alternative activities to diversify medical, dentistry, and pharmacy student's thesis in three steps (literature review, scoring the extracted alternative activities, and implementing expert panel). The quantitative phase aimed to assess the extracted alternative activities to diversify medical, dentistry, and pharmacy student's thesis.Results: According to the results of the two phases, 18 alternative activities were identified and categorized into five domains of individual development, research, education, healthcare, and social services.Conclusions: The gap between what we know and what is seen in practice in medical, dentistry, and pharmacy student's thesis is quite apparent. According to research, it is always recommended that knowledge manifest itself in the society; however, the present study aimed to extract activities to replace student's dissertations so that they may turn into practice and contribute to social services.