[Educational needs assessment of medical school's clinical faculty members in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences]

Identifying the educational needs is an essential step in planning faculty development programs and plays an important role in promoting the quality of education. The aim of this study was to determine and prioritize the educational needs of clinical faculty members in medical school of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. A questionnaire was developed in this descriptive cross-sectional study using the indices identified in an opinion poll, reviewing the literature and similar foreign and domestic studies, and the instruction including 6 areas of faculty members' job description. The questionnaire was sent to all clinical faculty members of school of medicine [n=275]. The items were scored from 1 to 20 according to the importance of that educational need. Data was analyzed by SPSS software using the mean and standard deviation statistical indices. Different areas of educational needs were respectively prioritized as: personal development, research, administrative and executive activities, education, health services and health promotion, and specialized activities outside the university. The first priority in the area of education was the method for developing continuous learning and self-learning in students; in research, data analysis skills; in personal development, English speaking ability; in administrative and executive activities, time management; in health services and health promotion, the approach for registering patients' information; and in the area of specialized activities outside the university, it was the principles and methods for providing education and counseling for the society by public media. Faculty members are in need of all these 6 major areas specially the area of personal development. The area of education is not fully regarded as expected. It is recommended to determine the weight of all these six areas using a standard method

How does teaching clinical skills influence instructors' professional behaviour?

Purpose: "Introduction to Clinical Medicine" in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences and Health Services is an initiative in which general practitioners work as instructors and have the opportunity to experience teaching in addition to clinical practice. Since teaching, affects both teacher and students, this study aims to assess the influence of teaching clinical skills on the instructors' psychological, social and professional behavior

Methods: this was performed as a qualitative study. The research population consisted of instructors of "Introduction to Clinical Medicine" who were all general practitioners and acted as facilitator in small groups working on physical examination and case discussion. The data collecting tool was a semi-structured interview which was recorded on the tape. Then, the interviews were transcribed and confirmed by interviewees at the end. 10 instructors were interviewed. The data were analysed according to Colaizzi model

Results: after coding the data to 38 main subjects, they were classified into three main categories including professional, psychological and social effects. The influence of teaching on professional performance included performing a thorough and correct physical examination, taking a detailed and correct history, increasing decision making ability and increasing professional knowledge. Some of the psychological effects were increasing self-confidence, job satisfaction and morale. The social effects of teaching were increasing social contacts, having a relationship with an academic environment and having a respectful job

Conclusion: considering the positive effects of teaching on instructors, teaching clinical skills by general practitioners can increase general practitioners knowledge and clinical skills and improve their morale. It is recommended to train general practitioners both for teaching skills and clinical skills and consider this, as an opportunity for physicians' continuing education