scholarly journals The Influential Factors in the Performance of Medical Students in the Clinical Competency Exam: A Qualitative Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Atiye Faghihi

Background: Clinical assessment in medicine is a pillar of education, which should measure the competence and practical abilities of medical students. The viewpoint of students as one of the most important stakeholders in clinical assessment could guide planners in problem-solving and proper corrective actions. Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the influential factors in the performance of medical students in the clinical competency exam. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted using the directed content analysis approach during 2018 - 2019. The sample population included 10 medical students of internship at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in Isfahan, Iran. The participants were selected via purposive sampling. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was performed in the MAXQDA 10 software. Results: The students mentioned several influential factors in their performance on the competency exam. Their viewpoints were divided into seven categories, including content and resources, pre-exam requirements, time, cases (scenarios), stations, examiners, and the role of the clinical training course. Conclusions: Similar to other clinical exams, the clinical competency exam has some drawbacks despite its positive aspects, which may affect the performance of students. Several factors could influence the performance of students in this exam, and the contribution of these factors and their impact on the performance of students vary. Therefore, special attention should be paid to these factors to help officials and policymakers in future planning and improving the quality of these exams.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahmoud Mansouri ◽  
Shoaleh Bigdeli ◽  
Afsaneh Dehnad ◽  
Zohreh Sohrabi ◽  
Somayeh Alizadeh ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The importance of mobile phones has become one of the new research topics in health professions education due to the ease of access and flexibility. Although novel approaches to health professions education recommend the use of educational technologies such as mobile applications, a limited number of studies have been conducted with regard to teaching anatomy through mobile applications. Considering the increasing needs of medical students for mobile technology to meet their educational needs, wants and desires, we decided to explore the features of an anatomy mobile application. Methods This qualitative study was conducted in two stages of holding focus groups and an expert panel session. Students of basic Medical sciences, and faculty members of anatomy at Iran University of Medical Sciences formed the research participants. Semi-structured interviews and note-taking were used to collect the data. Brown and Clark methods were used for thematic analysis and feature extraction. Finally, four criteria presented by Lincoln and Guba for qualitative studies were used to ensure the credibility, confirmability, trustworthiness and transferability of the data. Results Based on the data analysis, 37 codes that could be used to design anatomy mobile content for medical students were extracted. These features were categorized into the main themes of “visual richness”, “scientific comprehensiveness”, “audio richness”, “affordability”, “user-friendliness”, “self-assessment”, “interactive content” and “user support”. Conclusion This study explored the features of an anatomy application that can be used by educational app developers. Anatomy departments of universities of medical sciences, policymakers, and planners in the field of medical education can also adopt the findings of the present study.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tzu-Hung Liu ◽  
Amy M. Sullivan

Abstract Background Medical educators have promoted self-directed learning (SDL) as an important means of enabling students to take responsibility for their own learning throughout their training and practice. While SDL has been well-studied in classroom settings, it remains a story half told: barriers to and facilitators of SDL in the clinical setting are not yet well described. The goals of this study were to explicate student experiences of SDL in their clinical training and to identify the roles that local social and cultural contexts play in shaping their experiences of SDL. Methods To understand students’ conceptualization and experiences of SDL in the clinical setting, we carried out a qualitative study with 15 medical students at Harvard Medical School. The semi-structured interviews were recorded and transcribed. Using an interpretivist approach, data were analyzed both deductively and inductively using the Framework method of content analysis. Results Participants described patient care activities as primary motivators for engagement in SDL in the clinical setting. Participants’ descriptions of SDL aligned with Knowles’ steps in SDL, with an additional step of consolidation of learning related to their patients’ diagnosis and management. Participants described using a range of cognitive, social-emotional, and peer learning strategies to enhance their SDL. Participants who described a growth mindset appeared to engage in SDL more easily. Learning environments that fostered SDL were those in which faculty and residents demonstrated an educational orientation, promoted psychological safety, and invited student engagement. Teams with perceived excessive work demands were perceived to be less supportive of SDL. Conclusions Our study enhances previous classroom-based models of SDL by providing specific, practical implications for both students and faculty in the clinical training setting. Participants described SDL in the clinical setting as patient-centered, and when effectively implemented, SDL appears to support a mastery rather than performance orientation. Our study paves the way for improving medical students’ clinical SDL and helping them become lifelong learners in the field of medicine.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mostafa Jafari ◽  
Susan Laei ◽  
Elham Kavyani ◽  
Rostam Jalali

Background: The promotion and organizational growth of the research empowerment program of faculty members require the accurate recognition of the influential components. Objectives: The present study aimed to explore the components of the research empowerment program of university faculty members using the context, input, process, and product model (CIPP). Methods: This qualitative study was conducted using content analysis on 15 faculty members of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Iran in 2020. The participants were selected via purposive sampling. Data were collected via in-depth, semi-structured interviews, and the component analysis was performed using MAXQDA 20. Results: After data analysis, eight main categories were extracted based on the CIPP model, including context component (preparation and planning), input component (content and resources), process component (implementation and control), and product component (performance and correction). Conclusions: According to the results, the research empowerment program of the faculty members could be improved by considering the influential factors in the quality of these programs.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neda Dolatkhah ◽  
Seyed Kazem Shakouri ◽  
Azizeh Farshbaf Khalili ◽  
Majid Hajifaraji ◽  
Maryam Hashemian ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives : In this cross-sectional study among 220 medical students we aimed to determine the nutritional knowledge and attitude of medical students through clinical training courses (externship and internship) of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Iran. A nutritional knowledge questionnaire included 51 questions was used to determine the correct, perceived and accuracy of knowledge of the participant in different aspects of nutrition sciences. Nutritional knowledge was calculated as percentage of correct responses. The nutrition attitude questionnaire included 30 questions. Both questionnaires were confirmed in terms of the validity and reliability for assessing nutritional knowledge and attitude in this sample of Iranian medical students. Results: The mean score of correct knowledge was not significantly different among externs and interns (68.20±7.50% and 67.87±6.04% respectively, p=0.729). Results showed that most of the participants (49.61% of externs and 57.14% of inters) had a poor nutritional knowledge, significantly varied by age (p=0.035). The mean attitude index of the subjects was not significantly different among externs and interns (106.37±13.66 and 108.16±13.35 out of 145 respectively, p=0.337). Most students (92.7%) had a very appropriate attitude toward nutrition, significantly varied by sex (p=0.010). These findings indicate that there are multiple deficiencies in nutrition knowledge of medical students.


2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sogand Tourani ◽  
Narges Rafiei ◽  
Shahnaz Rimaz ◽  
Seyed Kazem Malakouti ◽  
Alireza Heidari

BACKGROUND፡ Recently, one of the challenges in the health system of the country is the need for research contributing to policy-making. Therefore, it is crucial to develop activities in the field of knowledge Translation (KT). This study aimed to propose KT improvement strategies in universities of medical sciences in Iran.METHODS: In this qualitative study, 18 semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants from the medical universities in Iran during January-July 2018. The transcribed documents were analyzed using the Gale framework analysis approach. Data organization was carried out using MAXQDA version 10 software.RESULTS: According to framework analysis, six KT improvement strategies were identified including improving the abilities and skills of researchers, improving the processes and quality of knowledge production, revising policies and laws, mproving the prerequisites, culture-building, and promoting the, use of evidence.CONCLUSION: Given the challenges and strategies outlined in this study, it seems that the mechanism of KT and its effects on improving health plans for policymakers and researchers has not been elucidated yet. Therefore, considerable changes in prerequisites, knowledge production processes, academic procedures, policies and laws are necessary for implementing KT in universities of medical sciences in Iran. 


F1000Research ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faezeh Jaafari ◽  
Somayeh Delavari ◽  
Leila Bazrafkan

Background: Recently, there has been an increase in life expectancy due to improvements in nutrition, health, and sanitation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the geriatric curriculum in the field of general medicine at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS), Iran to improve the quality of services provided to this population in the community. Methods: This was a qualitative study­­. Six educational hospitals and ambulatory centers of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences participated in this study. Within these centers, 15 medical education faculty members and educational experts, 6 medical students, 6 elderly patients and 6 nurses working in the university related to the geriatric field were selected using purposive sampling. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews, focus group discussion and field observations in the teaching hospital and ambulatory setting of SUMS from June 2017 to May 2018.  Based on the qualitative research, the data underwent conventional content analysis and the main themes were developed from this. Results: Three main themes were extracted from the data: effective clinical education, geriatrics curriculum challenges and promotion strategies for geriatric medicine. Subcategories that emerged were a competent curriculum teacher, a challenging program, management of resources, promotion of the program, and the revision required in the curriculum, which were related to other concepts and described in the real-world situation of the geriatric curriculum in the university, as observed in field observations. Conclusions: This study identified three concepts as main themes that can be used to explain how to implement a geriatric curriculum in a medical university. The main contributing factor to different views of the participants was identified as the revision required to the curriculum for integrative care in a geriatric patient. This should be taken into consideration while planning any programs and decisions aimed at education of medical students on this topic.


Author(s):  
Enisa Mede ◽  
Zeynep Mutlu Cansever

This chapter aims to investigate the role of culture in English Language Preparatory Programs in Turkey. Specifically, the chapter attempts to gain insights on what types of culture teaching activities native and non-native English instructors use in their classroom, find out if there is any difference between the two groups of participants and lastly, identify to what extent they implement culture in their teaching practices.. The sample population of this study were 95 (44 native and 51 non-native) EFL instructors working in the preparatory program. Data were collected from a questionnaire, semi-structured interviews and classroom observations. The findings revealed that both groups of instructors agreed that language and culture are closely related and that culture should be integrated in classrooms frequently to help students to become intercultural speakers as well as become more competent in how to develop a relationship with people of other languages and cultures.


Author(s):  
AS Le Provost ◽  
R Pougnet ◽  
J Pietri ◽  
L De Parscau ◽  
B Loddé ◽  
...  

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 116-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence Martean ◽  
Chris Evans

Aims and methodTo explore experiences of psychiatrists considering medication for patients with personality disorder by analysis of transcribed, semi-structured interviews with consultants.ResultsThemes show important relational processes in which not prescribing is expected to be experienced as uncaring rejection, and psychiatrists felt helpless and inadequate as doctors when unable to relieve symptoms by prescribing. Discontinuity in doctor–patient relationships compounds these problems.Clinical implicationsProblems arise from: (a) the psychopathology creating powerful relational effects in consultation; (b) the lack of effective treatments, both actual and secondary to under-resourcing and neglect of non-pharmaceutical interventions; and (c) the professionally constructed role of psychiatrists prioritising healing and cure through provision of technological interventions for specific diagnoses. There is a need for more treatments and services for patients with personality disorder; more support and training for psychiatrists in the relational complexities of prescribing; and a rethink of the trend for psychiatrists to be seen primarily as prescribers.


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