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Objective (S): Personal communication between health care providers and clients is one of the most important factors affecting the satisfaction of clients from comprehensive health service centers. The present study was conducted with the aim of evaluating the effect of virtual training based on the theory of Reasoned Action developed on the interpersonal communication skills of health care workers in Ahvaz city. Methods: This intervention study was conducted on 88 health care providers in Ahvaz, Iran (44 people in the test group and 44 people in the control group) in 2021. The data were collected before and 2 months after the intervention by using a questionnaire including items on the theory of Reasoned Action constructs and a questionnaire assessing the interpersonal communication skills. The educational content was provided to the test group in a virtual environment using the WhatsApp during 12 sessions each lasting for 60 minutes. In order to analyze the data, SPSS software version 24 and descriptive and inferential statistical tests were used. Results: The average score of the constructs of the theory of Reasoned Action in the test group compared to the control group increased significantly after the intervention. Also, the interpersonal communication skills in the test group increased significantly after the intervention compared to the control group. The most change was related to attitude and behavior and the least change was related to subjective norms. Conclusion: Training based on the theory of rational action developed virtually using social network (WhatsApp) was effective in improving the interpersonal communication skills of health care providers. It seems that the implementation of such training programs can be useful for increasing the interpersonal communication skills of health care providers.

Introduction: In the medical fields, internship and field training play a very important role in the education of students. The purpose of the present study was to determine the status of education in the field for students and enhancing the level of health system accountability in Jundishapor University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz. Methods: The current research was a descriptive-cross-sectional study that was conducted in 2019 in Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences in Ahvaz. The study people includes 209 of senior students in all majors, 97 of faculty members, and 18 of non-faculty resident trainee instructors. The study tool was three researcher-made questionnaires, made available to the study subjects through the educational vice-chancellor of Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz. Content Validity Ratio (CVR) and Content Validity Indices (CVI) as well as Cronbach’s alpha coefficient were used for content validity and internal consistency, respectively. The evaluation of training in the field was done in six domains. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics in SPSS24 software. Results: The number of participants in the study was 322 people. Examining the views of the participants showed that the state of education in the field was average for the six domains. In the comparison between different domains, 'content and compliance with the training curriculum in the field' had the highest average of the score (2.38 out of 4) and 'motivational and behavioral issues for training in the field' had the lowest average (1.98 out of 4). Conclusion: The findings of the present study showed that from the point of view of the three target groups, the state of education in the field is still far from the ideal state. Therefore, it is recommended to plan in order to develop the necessary infrastructure for training in the field, provide motivational opportunities for faculty members, resident instructors and other staff involved in student training and improve the evaluation method.

Background and Objective: Recently, coronavirus has become a major cause of death and hospital admission worldwide. This study was aimed to assess the factors associated with the presentation via ambulance and time to in-hospital death or discharge from the hospital using a multilevel joint modeling approach. Materials and Methods: In this historical cohort study, hospitalized patients with COVID-19 were included from 34 medical centers in Khuzestan province, Iran, from February 18th, 2020, to January 5th, 2021. Joint model analysis was used to assess the impact of demographic and clinical characteristics on the mode of hospital presentation and time to death/discharge from hospitals in Khuzestan province, Iran. Results: Among 22,356 patients, 14.2% presented to the hospital via ambulance, and 11.2% died in the hospital. The odds of ambulance use was higher in patients with older age, male sex, comorbidities including respiratory disease, diabetes, cancer, and drug abuse, and symptoms such as respiratory distress and loss of consciousness. Older age, male sex, a higher burden of comorbidities, symptoms of chest pain, respiratory distress, and loss of consciousness, and admission to intensive care unit were predictors of in-hospital mortality. The median survival time was longer for patients with COVID-19 who self-presented to the hospital compared to those who presented with ambulance (31 vs 20 days; log-rank P