[Assessing the progress of strategic plan in Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, 2008-2009]

Considering the concept of strategic planning, the survival and success of an organization is in close connection with application of a strategic plan as it is primarily not only a future-oriented plan predicting the future changes with the capacity to regulate proper actions but it is also considered as an environment-oriented scheme and while tightly associated with the surroundings it has the potential of having immediate communication with the environment and rapid response to changes if required. To compare the progress of the strategic plan of Qazvin University of Medical Science in 2008 with that of the year 2007. This was a descriptive-analytical study performed within the different divisions affiliated to Qazvin University of Medical Sciences. The evaluation method and the progress reporting forms were formulated through team discussions and participation of the stakeholders. It took several sessions for the strategic committee to analyze the information on forms completed by the divisions. At the end of the year 2008, only 53% of the University's goals were completely achieved, while 32% were met by 50-90% and 11% by less than 50%. Totally, 4% of the goals were shown to have been unattained during the same time course. By the end of 2007, from the total defined goals of the University, only 49% were achieved by 100%. Budget deficiency was proved to be the most important obstacle in achieving the full defined goals in 2007 and 2008. Considering an achievement level of higher than 50% of the goals in 2008, it could be concluded that the development process of the University's strategic plan was promoted, however, the problems and obstacles such as shortages in human resources and budget and credit deficiencies prevailing the year 2007, were demonstrated to have played a hindering role against achieving the goals of 2008

Investigating the molars and periodontium health in 7-11 years old children with congenital heart disease in Qazvin

Children with congenital heart diseases require special dental treatment and care compared to ordinary healthy patients. Therefore, awareness of such specific needs is essential for both the patients and their families. The aim of the present study was to investigate the health status of molar teeth and periodontium in children with congenital heart diseases and evaluating the awareness of parents about their children's specific dental care. A complete dental and oral examination was carried out on 32 children aged 7 to 11 with congenital heart disease followed by assessing the parent's awareness over their children's specific dental care using a questionnaire. From 108 permanent molars, 14.8% were with caries and 34.3% with enamel defect. Complete examination of 226 deciduous molars was also indicative of decay and enamel defect in 45.6% and 3.5%, respectively. Of all patients studied, 40.62% were found to have gingivitis and 18.7% with dental abscess. Regarding the parent's awareness, only 56% of children were revealed to have a previous history of visiting a dentist, and 68.7% of parents were aware of their children's specific needs for antibiotic prophylaxis. Considering the data obtained in our study, the children were found to have unfavorable dental conditions. Hence, such children require to be visited by a dentist on a regular basis and at the same time provided by necessary information on preventive dental care, treatment and oral hygiene

Assessing the gap between current and desirable needs in TUMS* CME Unit: participants' viewpoints

Background: given the limited resources for medical education it seems reasonable to specify the exact educational needs and make sure that these needs are met. In this respect determining priorities and appropriate educational strategies and teaching methods allows for optimum use of limited available resources

Purpose: to determine the perceived educational priorities and effective educational methods for five groups of medical care providers with respect to their views

Method: a cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the perceived knowledge, and preferences of the participants. Five valid and reliable questionnaires were developed, verified by 4 CME experts, filled out during the planned programs and on receiving their temporary of final certificates by each participant in the relevant subgroup. SPSS 9.0 was used for the analysis of collected data

Results: of the 3300 medical care providers who received the questionnaires, 2687 filled them out. The overall response rate was 81%. Educational needs based on the priorities in the questionnaires included required educational methods and techniques for the five subgroups and specific priorities for each subgroup. Among the most requested methods were: lectures accompanied by video [54.1%], lectures followed by questions and answers [49.3%], case presentations [37.5%], educational workshops [37.4%], education through the internet [26.4%], conventional lectures [23.9%], morning reports [16.4%], and education in the field [15.1%]

Conclusion: demographic characteristics were relevant to determine educational priorities and learning methods. For the most-preferred learning needs, the five subgroups suggested different topics. The observation suggests that the participants assess their learning needs closely related to their perceived job requirements. However, these perceived needs may not be well related to the participants, actual level of knowledge or skill