Postgraduate Trainees’ Perception of the Clinical Learning Environment at an Iranian Medical Sciences University

AbstractBACKGROUND and PURPOSE: Clinical learning environment is an influential component of the educational experience. This study measures the learning environment across all of resident physicians at Guilan University of Medical Sciences (GUMS) in Iran by using Postgraduate Hospital Educational Environment Measure (PHEEM), and identifies areas for change to enhance residents experiences. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted at GUMS during summer 2011. The 40-item PHEEM is an evaluation tool consisting of a validated questionnaire with 3 subscales: perceptions of autonomy, social support and teaching which are factors perceived to be influencing the educational environment. The questionnaire was distributed to all residents in clinical wards of university hospitals at GUMS. Collected data were analyzed by using SPSS18 software. RESULTS: Trainees’ perception of clinical learning environment was more positive than negative. There were differences in perceptions of the learning environment between the junior and senior trainees but no significant difference between male and female Trainees in educational environment subscales. CONCLUSIONS: The results revealed that the educational climate was generally perceived positively by trainees and trainees were happy with their teaching, their supports and the work they did. The study also showed problematic components of learning environment in our university hospitals which enabled us to adopt some remedial measures

Youth and telecentres in community building in rural Peninsular Malaysia

This paper aims to investigate the factors that affect telecentres in community building in the perspective of youth in rural Peninsular Malaysia. The perspective of youth on developing a model for telecentres in community building is important as: 1) youth are at the forefront of adoption of new technology, 2) youth as a group are the highest number of users of telecentres, and 3) youth are tasked with the responsibility of building up the community in the near future. This paper employed a cross-sectional survey method to achieve the study objectives. Data collected were from 313 youth randomly selected from the users of Medan Info Desa (MID) and Program Internet Desa (PID) telecentres in rural Peninsular Malaysia. The results of the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) analyses show that the proposed model explains 47% variability on the influence that telecentres have in community building from the point of view of youth. Furthermore, all independent variables including information, telecentre and community characteristics were significantly related to the influence telecentres have in community building; characteristics related to information form the more powerful predictor. Possible measures that the government and donor agencies can implement as implied from these findings are also discussed

The Biochemical Outcome of two Treatment Protocols in Patients With Opium-associated Lead Poisoning: A Cross-sectional Study in North of Iran

Background: Lead is a potent toxin that targets heme synthesis and some antioxidant enzymes that induce oxidative stress. Lead exposure remains one of the significant health concerns all over the world. Chelating agents have been used as antidotes for acute and chronic lead poisoning. The present study was conducted to evaluate the biochemical outcome of two different chelating therapies. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed in the Razi University Hospital, Rasht, Guilan. Fifty-six patients with a history of opium use were enrolled in the study who were treated symptomatically. Blood lead Llevels (BLL), Hemoglobin (Hb), Red Blood Cell (RBC), White Blood Cell (WBC), urea, creatinine, Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), Aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) were evaluated before and after treatment. The BLL more than 100μg/dl with clinical symptoms was considered as severe lead poisoning (n=34) who received 4 days of DMPS (2,3-dimercaptopropane-1-sulfonate) injection. Other cases with BLL of 20-100μg/dl were considered as those with mild poisoning (n=22) that were treated with oral D-Penicillamine for 14 days.Results: The mean age of patients was 49.73±14.11 years. Data analysis indicated no significant differences between the groups at baseline regarding the demographic variables. A significant reduction was observed in BLL before and after the intervention using the D-Penicillamine from 75.88±26.22 to 44.3±17.51 μg/dl (P=0.0001). The BLL reduced from 105.5±34.04 to 24.51±24.08 μg/dl after treatment with DMSP (P=0.0001). The levels of ALT, AST, and WBC significantly decreased post-treatment following using D-penicillamine and DMPS (P<0.05). The D-Penicillamine-treated group showed an increase in Hb and RBC (P<0.05).Conclusion: According to the results, penicillamine improves low to moderate lead toxicity. Although DMSP decreases BLL significantly and reverses liver enzymes, further investigations on Hb and RBC, are needed

Investigating the prevalence of antibiotics prescription in the toxicology ward of a referral hospital in the North of Iran

Antibiotic resistance of microorganisms is a serious problem in medicine. One of the most common reasons for this issue is the improper prescription of antibiotics by physicians. The purpose of the study was to investigate the prevalence of using antibiotics in the toxicology ward of Razi Hospital. In this retrospective descriptive cross-sectional study, 338 patients admitted to the toxicology ward of Razi hospital were enrolled from March 2018 until March 2019. A checklist of investigated factors including age, gender, fever, paraclinical findings, type of poisoning, and type of antibiotic prescribed was completed for all patients. About 52.1% of the participants were males and 47.9% were females. The mean age of participants was 37.07 ± 17.36 years. Antibiotics had been prescribed for 49 patients. The most common form of poisoning was benzodiazepines. Also, ceftriaxone was the most common antibiotic prescribed to the patients. Fever existed in 69.4% of the patients receiving antibiotics. The most common paraclinical finding was abnormal complete blood count (CBC) in patients (leukocytosis) which was seen in 83.7% of them. The antibiotics mostly had been prescribed in the first two days of hospitalization. In the present study, antibiotics were prescribed in the toxicology ward for only 14.5% of the poisoned patients. Considering that ceftriaxone has been the most commonly prescribed antibiotic, its use has to be based on clinical evidence based on the necessary indications according to scientifically substantiated sources

Predictor factor of telecentres outcome from the users perspectives in rural communities

Problem statement: Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in developing countries is considered as a fundamental strategy of community development. In this regard, the government of Malaysia and developing agencies considered telecentres as a tool for providing the potential and benefits of ICTs for rural and remote community in order to make value and offer equal ICT access to all Malaysians and to transform Malaysia into a value based Knowledge Society by the year 2020. However, the lack of success and sustain ability is a common problem for telecentre projects that cause increasing necessity for paying more con sideration to extract lessons learned of projects, with particular attention to factors influence tele centre outcomes which is the aim of this study. Approach: the main purpose of this study was to define the predictor factors of telecentres outcomes from user’s perception in rural communities in Malaysia. A cross sectional survey method was employed in the study and data were collected from 360 respondents who were randomly selected from the Pusat Internet Desa (PID) and Medan InfoDesa (MID) centers. For the purpose of analysis, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) by AMOS software was used. Result: The results of the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analyses show that individual characteristics, telecentres characteristics, information characteristics and leadership competency variables had significant contribution toward the prediction of telecentre outcome. Also the results showed that the information characteristic variable had better contribution toward the prediction of telecentre outcomes in rural community. Conclusion: based on highest contribution of the information characteristics among investigated factors, it could be concluded that any efforts must be made to improve service quality and provide relevant content to respondent needs in local language. Thus, access to local and relevant content can play a critical role in stimulating the users in rural community to have a continuous connection with telecentres and finally achieving desire outcome

Predictor factor of telecentres outcome from the users perspectives in rural communities

Problem statement: Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in developing countries is considered as a fundamental strategy of community development. In this regard, the government of Malaysia and developing agencies considered telecentres as a tool for providing the potential and benefits of ICTs for rural and remote community in order to make value and offer equal ICT access to all Malaysians and to transform Malaysia into a value based Knowledge Society by the year 2020. However, the lack of success and sustain ability is a common problem for telecentre projects that cause increasing necessity for paying more con sideration to extract lessons learned of projects, with particular attention to factors influence tele centre outcomes which is the aim of this study. Approach: the main purpose of this study was to define the predictor factors of telecentres outcomes from user’s perception in rural communities in Malaysia. A cross sectional survey method was employed in the study and data were collected from 360 respondents who were randomly selected from the Pusat Internet Desa (PID) and Medan InfoDesa (MID) centers. For the purpose of analysis, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) by AMOS software was used. Result: The results of the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analyses show that individual characteristics, telecentres characteristics, information characteristics and leadership competency variables had significant contribution toward the prediction of telecentre outcome. Also the results showed that the information characteristic variable had better contribution toward the prediction of telecentre outcomes in rural community. Conclusion: based on highest contribution of the information characteristics among investigated factors, it could be concluded that any efforts must be made to improve service quality and provide relevant content to respondent needs in local language. Thus, access to local and relevant content can play a critical role in stimulating the users in rural community to have a continuous connection with telecentres and finally achieving desire outcome

Social sustainability of information and communication technology (ICT) telecentres in rural communities in Malaysia

The main purpose of this paper was to determine factors that influence social sustainability of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) telecentres in rural communities in Malaysia. A cross sectional survey method was employed in the study. Data were collected from 360 respondents who were randomly selected from users of the PID and MID telecentres and analyzed using AMOS and SPSS software. Results of the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analyses show that the information characteristic variable had better contribution than individual and telecentre characteristics to predict the social sustainability of ICT project. The findings of this study provide practical implication and lesson for governments and donor agencies involved with telecentres development

Predictor factors of telecentres outcome from the users perspectives in rural communities

Problem statement: Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in developing countries is considered as a fundamental strategy of community development. In this regard, the government of Malaysia and developing agencies considered telecentres as a tool for providing the potential and benefits of ICTs for rural and remote community in order to make value and offer equal ICT access to all Malaysians and to transform Malaysia into a value based Knowledge Society by the year 2020. However, the lack of success and sustainability is a common problem for telecentre projects that cause increasing necessity for paying more consideration to extract lessons learned of projects, with particular attention to factors influence telecentre outcomes which is the aim of this study. Approach: the main purpose of this study was to define the predictor factors of telecentres outcomes from user’s perception in rural communities in Malaysia. A cross sectional survey method was employed in the study and data were collected from 360 respondents who were randomly selected from the Pusat Internet Desa (PID) and Medan InfoDesa (MID) centers. For the purpose of analysis, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) by AMOS software was used. Result: The results of the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analyses show that individual characteristics, telecentres characteristics, information characteristics and leadership competency variables had significant contribution toward the prediction of telecentre outcome. Also the results showed that the information characteristic variable had better contribution toward the prediction of telecentre outcomes in rural community. Conclusion: based on highest contribution of the information characteristics among investigated factors, it could be concluded that any efforts must be made to improve service quality and provide relevant content to respondent needs in local language. Thus, access to local and relevant content can play a critical role in stimulating the users in rural community to have a continuous connection with telecentres and finally achieving desire outcome

Determinants of attitude towards information and communication technology usage among rural administrators in using Structural Equation Modelling

Problem statement: Village Development and Security Committee members play a vital role in enhancing the village development programs in Malaysia and ICT is deemed as an important mechanism to further boost rural development. But do the rural community in Malaysia especially their leaders have a positive attitude towards it? Hence, this study is designed to identify the constructs that significantly influence the attitude of Village Development and Security Committee members in using ICT. Approach: This is a quantitative study where a total of 240 respondents have been selected based on the stratified random sampling done. AMOS and SPSS were used to gain the required analyses. Results: The structural equation modelling showed that there were three constructs that significantly predict the attitude and these constructs were perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and job relevance. Conclusion/Recommendation: It is recommended that more technology investment in the form of providing ICT facilities and trainings should be made by the government to encourage the development of a positive attitude among VDSC members. The findings of this study would be useful for policy makers to further boost the usage of ICT in rural areas