Understanding Interns' information needs in emergency departments.

Objective: In teaching hospitals, the clinical encounter is an increasingly significant component of interns' curriculum and one of the clinical experiences of interns is emergency medicine. This research was conducted to provide new insights on interns' information needs in emergency departments. Methods: This study examines the information needs of interns in the emergency departments of teaching hospitals in Iran University of Medical Sciences. Questionnaires and observations were used to collect data from seventy interns. Chi-square, two-tailed and bi-variation correlation tests were used to investigate the relationship among the data. Results: It was observed that the most commonly asked questions related to patient specific information and fewer questions related to organizational questions such as hospital policies and procedures. The analysis revealed a statistically significant relationship (0.576, P<0.01, two-tailed) between the interns’ diagnostic and therapeutic questions. The interns reported that the majority of their information needs were laboratory (84%) and radiography (74%) results and the least of those were dead person transfer (1.4%) and medico-legal coordination (10%). Conclusion: Results showed that the interns underestimated the importance of access to organizational information such as medico-legal and dead person transfer issues in the emergency departments. Findings also support the development of educational programmes to promote student knowledge about organizational information and medico-legal issues in the emergency departments.

[Associated factors with academic excellence among medical students of Iran University of Medical Sciences: educational year 2009-2010]

The educational progress of the university students and its associated factors are one of the preferred fields of study for researcher and the educational managers of the medical Universities. This study was aimed to determine the associated factors with the educational progress of the students of Iran University of Medical Sciences in 2009-10. This cross-sectional study was performed in 2009-2010 at Iran University of Medical Sciences among 670 samples. The necessary data was collected from SAMA site and the educational section of the university which included demographic and educational information [total grade point average, the number of failed courses, and failed semesters]. The data was analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, non-parametric, linear and logistic regression utilizing SPSS software version 15. The highest mean belonged to Psychiatry Institute and the lowest to the School of Medicine. Also, the highest number of failed courses was in School of Medicine. In total 6.28% of the students had failed courses and 4.8% had failed semesters. The variables for failed courses, failed semesters total grade point average, gender, school, educational level, quota system and marital status were used as covariates for the RM with the outcome variables of total grade point average and the number failed courses and failed semesters. Also, the same variables were used for logistic regression analysis failed courses and failed semesters. The variables of gender, educational level, and school are the most important factors influencing the educational progress. Accepting more female and post-graduate students, using native quota system and providing good accommodationcan facilitate the educational progress. Accepting more medical and post-graduate students without enough facilities can lead to educational retardation