The effects of developmental model of peer observation on the virtual teaching quality of basic medical sciences faculty.

BACKGROUND: After the Corona pandemic, medical education has shifted to virtual education, but there has been limited time and possibilities for empowering faculty for this purpose. Therefore, it seems necessary to evaluate the quality of the provided training and provide feedback to the faculty in order to improve the quality of training. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of teacher formative evaluation by peer observation method on the quality of virtual teaching of basic medical sciences faculty. METHODS: In this study, seven trained faculty members observed and based on a checklist evaluated the quality of 2 virtual sessions taught by each faculty of basic medical sciences, and provided them feedback; after at least 2 weeks, their Virtual teachings were again observed and evaluated. The results before and after providing feedback were compared through SPSS software. RESULTS: After intervention, significant improvements were observed in the average scores of "overall virtual performance", "virtual classroom management" and "content quality". Specifically, there was a significant increase in the average score of "overall virtual performance" and "virtual class management" among female faculty, and the average score of "overall virtual performance" among permanently employed faculty members with more than 5 years of teaching experience, before and after intervention (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Virtual and online education can be a suitable platform for the implementation of formative and developmental model of peer observation of faculty; and should be considered as an opportunity to empower and improve the quality of the faculty' performance in virtual education.

Epilepsy and quality of life in Iranian epileptic patients.

BACKGROUND: Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders with physical, emotional, and social consequences. Previous studies indicate that epilepsy symptoms can highly affect the epileptic patients' satisfaction in life. The aim of the present study is to investigate the QOL of People with Epilepsy (PWE) in Khorasan Razavi province, Iran. METHODS: In this study, 100 patients were randomly selected. After confirmation of the diagnosis of epilepsy by neurologists and fulfilling the entrance criteria, patients completed the Quality of Life in Epilepsy-31 inventory (QOLIE-31) questionnaire. Finally, data was analyzed statistically by SPSS software. RESULTS: The study sample comprised 100 PWE, aged 18-74 years (34 ± 13), of whom 58 (58%) were females. Tonic-colonic seizure was the most common (60%) type of seizure. The obtained score of each subscale and the range of the QOLIE-31 total score was 16.40-79.18 with the mean of 50 (SD = 16). The energy-fatigue subscale score was significantly higher in patients younger than 35 (p = 0.018). The data analysis showed that the seizure worry subscale was significantly higher in single patients (p = 0.04). Duration of epilepsy had a positive correlation with QOLIE-31 total score (p = 0.038), and a negative relationship with energy-fatigue subscale (p = 0.018). In contrast with previous studies, which reported the frequency of the epileptic episodes as the most important predictor of QOL, our results showed no significant correlation between the number of the episodes and overall QOL score (p = 0.063). However, the number of episodes was significantly correlated with emotional well-being and cognition subscales. Furthermore, the results indicated that poor QOL score is correlated with depressed mood. CONCLUSION: In fact, the ultimate and preferred outcome of all treatments and care interventions is the patient's QOL. Thus, improvement of the QOL by means of obtaining more information about its contributing factors, in PWE should be one of the main goals in the patients' treatment.

Mothers' preferences toward breaking bad news about their children cancer.

BACKGROUND: The responsibility of breaking bad news (BBN) to patients is one of the most difficult tasks of a medical profession. AIM: The current study aimed to investigate the preferences of mothers of children with cancer about BBN. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional study was conducted in Mashhad during years of 2016, 62 mothers of children with cancer at Dr-Sheikh hospital were recruited by convenience sampling and completed a questionnaire including demographic data and 20 questions about the mothers' preferences to BBN. Data displayed as percent by SPSS V20 software. RESULTS: Mothers preferred that BBN conducted by their child's doctor (93.5%), with an emotional and compassionate way (83.9%), and in a private setting (90.3%). Be told completely about the process of diagnosis (98.4%), meet people with similar conditions (83.9%), receive psychological (85.5%), and religious (79%) support after getting bad news, being in touch with a close relative (82.3%) and applying another term-like malignancy instead of cancer (95.5%). CONCLUSION: We tried providing helpful information for developing national guidelines about how to breaking news in Iran, by doing this study.

Using Modified Direct Observation of Procedural Skills (DOPS) to assess undergraduate medical students.

INTRODUCTION: Nowadays according to competency based curriculum, selecting an appropriate assessment method is inevitable. This study aimed to investigate application of Direct Observation of Procedural Skills (DOPS) in undergraduate medical students. METHODS: This is a cross sectional study conducted during emergency ward rotation in last year medical students using consensus sampling method. Each student performed 2 procedures at least twice under the observation of 2 assessors using modified DOPS rating scales designed for each procedure simultaneously. Correlation between DOPS score and final routine exam was measured. Face and content validity was determined by the panel of experts. Moreover, through the test-retest and inter-rater reliability, the correlation of each score and total score was investigated. The spent time was calculated too. The statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS version 18. RESULTS: Totally 60 students did 240 procedures under DOPS. The face and content validity confirmed by an expert panel. The findings showed that there was a significant correlation between the scores of each test and the total DOPS score (r1=0.736**, r2=0.793**, r3=0.564**, r4=0.685**; p<0.001). There was a significant correlation between the first and second scores of doing the same procedure (Pearson Cor.=0.74, p<0.001) and also between the scores of the two individual examiners when observing the same procedure (Pearson Cor.=0.84-0.94 p<0.001). The results showed that there was no correlation (Pearson Correlation =0.018, p<0.89) between the scores of this test and the final routine ward exam scores. The average time for doing DOPS test and the average time for providing feedback were 11.17 Max and 9.2 4.5 Min, respectively. CONCLUSION: The use of novel performance assessment methods such as DOPS is highly beneficial in order to ensure the adequacy of learning in medical students and assess their readiness for accepting professional responsibilities. DOPS as a practical and reliable test with acceptable validation can be used to assess clinical skills of undergraduate medical students.

Perception of educational environment among undergraduate students of health disciplines in an Iranian university.

OBJECTIVES: This paper seeks to determine the perception of Medical, Nursing and Midwifery students about their educational environment and compare their perceptions in terms of disciplines, demographic attributes and academic level. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, Medical, Nursing and Midwifery students in Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran, were selected using stratified random sampling method (N=378). They completed the standard Persian version of Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze data. RESULTS: The mean score of DREEM was 106 ± 24.6. The mean scores in five domains of DREEM questionnaire including students' perception of learning, perception of teachers, scientific abilities, students' perception of educational environment and students' perception of social conditions were 23±8, 23.4±6, 18±5.5, 25.5±7.7 and 15.8±4, respectively. In the first four domains (p=0.000, F=27.35), (p=0.000, F=9.9), (p=0.000, F=18.5), (p=0.000, t=18.7) and for total scores (p=0.000, F=22.77), the three disciplines were significantly different. Also, there was a significant difference between mean total score (p=0.021, t=2.3) and scores of students' perception of learning (p=0.008, t=2.65) and social conditions (p=0.022, t=2.3) with respect to gender. CONCLUSIONS: According to these results, students tend to have a positive attitude towards their educational environment. The findings of this study are useful to identify areas in need of improvement by employing more specialized tools and planning for improvement.