Assessment of Clinical Teachers' Professionalism in Iran: From Residents and Fellowships' Perspective.

In the present study, professional conduct of clinical teachers in Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Iran was assessed by their residents (n=292) and fellowships (n=48) using a standard questioner called self-reported measurement equipment. This evaluation was a descriptive cross-sectional study. Professionalism was questioned in four domains including clinical teacher-patient, clinical teacher-student, inter-professional and clinical teacher-self relationships. Accordingly, mean scores of the teachers in cases of clinical teacher-patient; clinical teacher-student, inter-professional (teamwork) and clinical teacher-self relations were 61%, 62.2%, 60.6% and 57.6%, respectively. Generally, the teachers achieved 60.35% of the positive scores, and as a result, they were assessed intermediate in the professional behaviors. The residents and fellowships stated that they were not completely satisfied with their teacher's professional conduct and had hidden concerns. It shows that the clinical teachers in our project may not be ideal role models. As a result, developing a comprehensive professionalism and implementing regulations to ensure a successful professionalism are necessary. The precise evaluation of professional conduct in clinical faculty could encourage the maintenance of professional behaviors and potentially decrease negative role modeling and positively influence the hidden curriculums. Operational approaches to formulating regulations and appropriate measures for establishing professional ethics are of great importance.

Effectiveness of continuing medical education considering participant's idea in Iran University.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the satisfaction and perception of participants with the current CME programme in Iran and eventually to re-design the programme accordingly. METHODS: In this descriptive cross-sectional study the attitude of participants in 28 CME programmes of Iran University, Iran, implemented between 2007 and 2009 were evaluated. A questionnaire was prepared (reliability coefficient of Cronbach's alpha = 0.97) consisting of seven main questions (Likert scale) related to attitude of participants about the quality of programme's content, lecturer teaching skills and participant's learning and satisfaction; three open questions about weaknesses and strengths of the programmes and their recommendations about it; gender, type and duration of different programme. Our participants (physicians, nurses, midwives, health care providers, dentists, clinical laboratorists and nutritionist) completed the questionnaire at the end of their CME programmes. RESULTS: According to total score of the questions > or = 28, only 47.7% believed that the CME programme was effective. Workshops were more effective than seminar sessions (61.5% vs 30.1%, p < 0.001). Total score of participant's attitude was significantly higher in male in comparison with female (24.6 +/- 0.48 vs 22.9 +/- 0.54, p = 0.02) and also significantly higher for workshops than seminars (28.2 +/- 0.21 vs 24.3 +/- 0.31, p < 0.001). Effective programmes (total score > or = 28) had significantly lower duration (18.1 +/- 0.39 vs 19.1 +/- 0.34 hours, p = 0.044). CONCLUSION: While short course workshops are preferred in our community, effective, dynamic, and interactive educational methods in CME programme should be considered in this area as well.