Search

Introduction: Comparative studies are one of the research methods in reviewing educational programs. This study endeavored to describe, interprete, and compare the criteria for promoting Iranian medical with selected universities in the world. Methods: This is a descriptive-comparative study that first studied the new regulations for the promotion of faculty members of Iranian universities of medical sciences, then the latest criteria for the promotion of professors in other universities and research conducted in this regard, Searched, translated, and studied by searching the sites of various universities and the Google-scholar, Scupos, Pubmed sites, and the Proquest and Magiran magazines. The four prominent universities in Shanghai International Rankings, including Harvard, Stanford, Will Cornell and John Hopkins, were selected as the research sample. The applied model in this study was a Beredy model that identifies four stages of description, interpretation, proximity, and comparison in comparative studies. Results: In the studies, it was determined that the criteria in the selected universities are in the fields of: education, research, skills and innovation, or clinical care, and in some cases program construction. The candidate chooses to upgrade a field. There is also a support criterion consisting of achievement in all specific areas and activities. In Iran, educational, research-technology, scientific-executive and cultural-social training criteria are the main criteria. Conclusion: The results obtained allow the country's scientific policymakers to develop, revise and modify the criteria for promoting faculty members with a broader vision which in turn set the stage for the ground for the comprehensive promotion of scientific and research education in the country.

Introduction: A limited number of risky behaviors cause most morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to determine the possible clustering of lifestyle behaviors, including transportation behaviors, diet, physical activity, and smoking in Shiraz, Iran. Methods: There were 776 representative Shirazi adults who participated in this cross-sectional study. The questionnaires were completed via person-to-person interviews. The datasets were searched for any clustering patterns. Cluster analysis was used for statistical analysis, and the data were analyzed using SPSS version 11.5. Results: Three distinct clusters were identified. Cluster 1 was named "Healthy," and it included non-smokers, safe drivers, appropriate or acceptable fruit, vegetable, and fast-food consumers, and physically-active people. Cluster 2, "Moderately Healthy," was relatively risky drivers who had appropriate behaviors on the rest of the health-related behaviors. Cluster 3, "Unhealthy," was smokers, risky drivers, inappropriate or unacceptable fruit, vegetable & fast-food consumers, and a sedentary lifestyle. Conclusions: It was obvious that health-related behaviors were clustered together and unhealthy behaviors were not established in isolation

Introduction: Cross-cultural competence as a core component in professionalism has a unique role in medical sciences due to cultural diversity clients (especially university students and patients). Despite its importance, yet many aspects of this competence are unknown in our country. Therefore this paper presents a review of cultural competence, its significance in the medical community, and its position in Iran as well as how it is assessed and educated. Methods: In this review article, we searched in library and electronic resources such as Sceince Direct, Magiran, SID, PubMed, and Proquest. Keywords used were cross-cultural competence, assessment, education, and faculty members, both alone and in combination. All documents were reviewed. Then relevant documents were selected and the related content and information were extracted. Results: Out of 131 investigated articles in total, documents of 67 relevent and credible articles were obtained. With regard to the diversity of the aspect of this subject, articles were classified in three categories of “importance of cultural competence”, “cultural competency education,” and “cultural competency assessment”. Cultural competence is a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together and enable the person to work effectively in cross-cultural situations. In the care area, there is an obvious link between the cultural competence, quality improvement, health outcomes enhancement, and elimination of ethnic inequalities. In the education area, a culturally competent school is a place wherein new opportunities are provided for students in support of individual development as well as different cultural groups. Therefore medical educators must have multicultural attitude, behavior, and knowledge to help different types of clients (especially students and patients) appropriately. Conclusion: Since cultural variables are affected by various factors in our country, it is necessary to investigate this phenomenon in our own cultural setting. Moreover, a comprehensive plan must be developed for its educational strategies and assessment among faculty members and students.

Different therapeutic options in children with immune thrombocytopenic purpura include observation alone, periodic treatment with corticosteroids, intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) or anti-D, chronic administration of immunosuppressive agents, and splenectomy.Preference of the type of therapy depends on the degree of thrombocytopenia and clinical bleeding manifestations. Dexamethasone is safe but its side effects are the main disadvantages for its usage. Anti-D is more expensive than dexamethason but the side effect is rare and not dangerous and response to treatment is assessed in approximately 3 days after infusion.

Background: The demanding academic and professional environment faced by medical students renders them susceptible to mental health challenges. Tailored academic advising (AA) services are crucial in catering to the distinct requirements of medical students. This study evaluates the quality of AA from the perspective of medical students and proposes improvements in the AA approach.Method: The study comprised 250 pre-clinical year students from Mashhad Medical School. A valid AA quality evaluation questionnaire was used to measure students' perception and attitude towards AA, to evaluate the performance of students and advisors, and factors affecting its quality. Chi-square, t-test, ANOVA, and logistic regression were used for data analysis.Results: Although a majority of medical students exhibited a favorable disposition towards AA, 37% acknowledged never utilizing the AA, with only 10.4% engaging in regular consultations. The satisfaction rate with AA stood at 47%. Obstacles concerning advisor performance were identified as more prevalent reasons for student discontent, including deficiencies in advisory skills, unfamiliarity with educational protocols, low time, and low motivation. Alongside academic concerns, 36% of students sought advice for psychological issues. Logistic regression analysis showed that counselors' performance, students' knowledge, and students' positive attitudes increased the rate of students using AA.Conclusion: Enhancing AA services necessitates augmenting students' awareness regarding the available support mechanisms and upgrading the skills and commitment levels of advisors. While faculty advisors play a pivotal role in career progression, the efficiency of AA services could be heightened by incorporating an assistant psychologist alongside specialized training for faculty advisors.

Background: Infertility is recognized as one of the major medical problems in the world. Infertility treatment is a complex, long, and stressful process, and may lead to unsuccessful treatment. It seems necessary to follow up the patients after unsuccessful treatment, to identify their needs and desires, and to provide health services for their health promotion. Therefore, this systematic review was conducted to investigate the needs and preferences of infertile couples after unsuccessful treatment with assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs). Methods: In this systematic review, searching was performed without time restrictions in PubMed, Scopus, the Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, Web of Science databeses, as well as Google Scholar search engine, and Iranian databases including Magiran, Scientific Information Database (SID), Iranpsych, Clinical key, and Iranmedex. Keywords included infertility treatment, assisted reproductive techniques, needs, expectations, unsuccessful treatmen,t and their equivalent words. The relevant articles were retrieved from English and Persian databases. The articles were independently evaluated by two researchers, and disagreements were discussed with the third author. Findings: 24 eligible studies (16 cross-sectional and 8 cohort studies), published between the years 1980 and 2019, were included in the study. The needs expressed by infertile patients in these studies includes educational-informational needs, the need to psychological counseling, supportive needs, men's special needs, the need to strategies for stress management, the need for couples counseling, and the need for receiving respect and empathy from health care staff. Conclusion: Infertile couples' needs included a wide spectrum of needs including educational, psychological, supportive, and counseling needs as well as men's special needs. Recognition of this vulnerable group’s needs can help policymakers and programmers to plan and implement counseling services in fertility clinics. In such a way, the quality of health services in these clinics would be improved and infertile couples' needs would be met.

Introduction: Infertility is a major medical issue. Investigations and treatment of infertility are the beginning of a complex, time-consuming and stressful process for couples that may fail well. The present study explored the needs of infertile couples following treatment failure with Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs). Methods: A descriptive qualitative study was conducted in an Iranian infertility center, in the Northeast of the country between April 2016 and June 2017. The researchers recruited 29 individuals including 9 couples, 9 women and two men with primary infertility through purposive sampling. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analyzed iteratively, using conventional content analysis with MAXQDA software. Results: The main concepts obtained from the data were classified into one theme titled: ""The need for support"" and four main categories along with their subcategories, and included the need for psychological support, the need for more useful information, the need for social support and the need to access to supplementary services. Conclusion: The findings show that following treatment failure, the infertile patients’ expressed needs and preferences were not met. Identifying and meeting their needs may help the infertile couples to deal with ARTs failure and to reach a decision about future treatment.

Introduction: Today, the importance of students’ education as lifelong learners is taken seriously and its development is considered in all suggestions for improving medical education. Jefferson Scale of Physician Lifelong Learning-Medical Students (JeffSPSLL-MS) is one of the lifelong learning measures which has not been implemented in Iran yet. This study aimed to investigate factor structure and reliability of the Persian version of JeffSPLL-MS among Iranian Persian speaking students. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 430 students in Birjand University of Medical Sciences who were selected through stratified random sampling. The data were collected by Persian version of JeffSPLL-MS. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to investigate the factor structure of JeffSPLL-MS the adequacy of model fit was assessed by the goodness-of-fit index, adjusted goodness-of-fit index, the root mean square error of approximation, chi-square index and its corresponding degrees of freedom, and comparative fit index. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to check the reliability. Results:The goodness of fit indices including RMSEA approximated 0.1 and GFI and CFI approximated 1 therefore the fit of model was good. The confirmatory factor analysis showed that the three-factor structure of Persian version of JeffSPLL-MS had acceptable fit to the data. Also, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.69 for the whole tool it ranged from 0.64 to 0.78 for the subscales. Conclusion:This study confirmed the three-factor structure of 14-item Persian version of JeffSPLL-MS including beliefs related to education and motivation, information search skills, and attention to learning opportunities. Therefore, this tool seems to be appropriate for assessing lifelong learning among Persian speaking students.