Investigating the Effectiveness of Blended Learning as a New Strategy for Teaching Anatomy to Medical Students: A Systematic Review

Background: The combined use of electronic and traditional education is called blended learning. Anatomy is a major in medical education. Using this method creates flexible learning environments and more interaction in learning.Objectives: The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of blended learning on teaching anatomy to medical students.Methods: This comprehensive literature review was conducted on December 3, 2022. Our research was conducted by adhering to the PRISMA guidelines. Online databases PubMed, Eric, and Web of Science were systematically searched for relevant articles using predefined keywords. Using EndNote, all relevant literature published within the past five years was retrieved and further analyzed.Results: Our comprehensive search strategy resulted in the retrieval of 351 articles. After screening the articles and selecting the articles based on the inclusion criteria, 22 articles were eligible and included in the study. Most of the studies were conducted in India (n = 5), China (n = 2), United Kingdom (n = 2), and Portugal (n = 2). The majority of studies were conducted in 2022 (n = 7). The most important finding of all reviewed articles was the effectiveness of blended learning, which is mentioned as an effective method for teaching anatomy.Conclusion: Blended learning can improve performance and increase satisfaction and motivation in students. Identifying suitable learning resources with medical students’ abilities improves learners’ knowledge. Applying new learning methods can be very effective as some conditions, such as the COVID-19 crisis, limit access to corpses and physical presence

Application of Digital Games in the Field of Health

The article is a letter to the editor, so it has no abstract

Usability Evaluation of a Mobile-Based Application to Provide Home Health Services Using Heuristic Method

Introduction: Considering the importance of Mobile Health (mHealth) in improving the quality of health services, evaluating the performance of applications that provide these services seems necessary. One of the dimensions of assessing applications is usability evaluation. This study aimed to evaluate the usability of a home health services mobile application (30Teb) using the heuristic evaluation method. Method: The present study was an applied cross-sectional one. The usability of the user interface of the 30Teb home health services mobile application to provide health services in Kerman was evaluated using a heuristic evaluation checklist. In this study, three evaluators independently evaluated the user interface of the 30Teb mobile app. Results: A total of 241 problems were identified by three evaluators. After deleting duplicates and then summarizing them, 69 problems remained in the final list. The highest number of identified problems was related to the “identification instead of reminder” and “skills” components, and the lowest number was related to the “privacy” component. Moreover, the highest severity of the identified problems was related to the component of “user freedom and control of the system,” and the lowest severity was related to the “privacy” component. Conclusion: Although the problems identified in the 30Teb app were not very severe, paying attention to them in different design and implementation stages and solving these problems can lead to better user interaction and more effective use of a mobile application

The Role of Learning Based on Virtual Patient Simulation in Surgical Training: A Survey at Tehran University of Medical Sciences

Introduction: Virtual patient simulation (VPS) as a computer interactive simulation has many applications in the field of medical education. This study aimed to investigate medical learners’ views regarding the role of learning based on these types of technologies in surgical training. Method: In this descriptive-analytical study, the convenience sampling method was used through which 100 interns and residents from Tehran University of Medical Sciences were selected. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect data after confirming its validity and reliability. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: According to the respondents, the greatest impact of VPS can be in creating effective learning and facilitating knowledge acquisition. Among the items examined, the highest mean score was related to the effectiveness of VPS in gaining clinical experience in rare surgeries and lack of available clinical situations (4.27) and the lowest was obtained for the effect of VPS on reducing human error and minimizing it in the patient’s bedside (3.48). VPS-based training has been given priority in cardiovascular and neurological surgeries than in other surgeries. There was also more emphasis on learning rather than evaluation with this technology. Conclusion: Considering the positive attitude of the respondents towards the role of technologies in improving education, it is recommended to develop and implement these types of educational assistance programs to facilitate the acquisition of basic surgical skills and techniques

A Mobile Application to Assist Alzheimer’s Caregivers During COVID-19 Pandemic: Development and Evaluation

Introduction: Access to healthcare services for patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) was limited during the COVID-19 pandemic. A mobile application (app) can help overcome this limitation for patients and caregivers. Our study aims to develop and evaluate an app to help caregivers of patients with AD during COVID-19. Methods: The study was performed in three steps. First, a questionnaire of features required for the app design was prepared based on the interviews with caregivers of AD patients and neurologists. Then, questionnaire was provided to neurologists, medical informatics, and health information management specialists to identify the final features. Second, the app was designed using the information obtained from the previous phase. Third, the quality of the app and the level of user satisfaction were evaluated using the mobile app rating scale (MARS) and the questionnaire for user interface satisfaction (QUIS), respectively. Results: The number of 41 data elements in four groups (patient’s profile, COVID-19 management and control, AD management and control, and program functions) were identified for designing the app. The quality evaluation of the app based on MARS and user satisfaction evaluation based on QUIS showed the app was good. Conclusion: This is the first study that focused on developing and evaluating a mobile app for assisting Alzheimer’s caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the app was designed based on users’ needs and covered both information about AD and COVID-19, it can help caregivers perform their tasks more efficiently

Challenges of using Hospital Information Systems by nurses: comparing academic and non-academic hospitals

Background and aim: Hospital Information Systems (HIS) are used for easy access to information, improvement of documentation and reducing errors. Nonetheless, using these systems is faced with some barriers and obstacles. This study identifies the challenges and the obstacles of using these systems in the academic and non-academic hospitals in Kerman. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study which was carried out in 2015. The statistical population in this study consisted of the nurses who had been working in the academic and non-academic hospitals in Kerman. A questionnaire consisting of two sections was used. The first section consisted of the demographic information of the participants and the second section comprised 34 questions about the challenges of HIS use. Data were analyzed by the descriptive and statistical analysis (t-test, and ANOVA) using SPSS 19 software. Results: The most common and important challenges in the academic hospitals were about human environment factors, particularly “negative attitude of society toward using HIS”. In the non-academic hospitals, the most common and important challenges were related to human factors, and among them, “no incentive to use system” was the main factor. The results of the t-test method revealed that there was a significant relationship between gender and the mean score of challenges related to the organizational environment category in the academic hospitals and between familiarity with HIS and mean score of human environment factors (p<0.05). The results of the ANOVA test also revealed that the educational degree and work experience in the healthcare environment (years) in the academic hospitals have a significant relationship with the mean score related to the hardware challenges, as well, experience with HIS has a significant relationship, with the mean score related to the human challenges (p<0.05). Conclusion: The most important challenges in using the information systems are the factors related to the human environment and the human factors. The results of this study can bring a good perspective to the policy makers and the managers regarding obstacles of using HISs from the nurses’ perspective, so that they can solve their problems and can successfully implement these system

Published papers on telepathology projects

Introduction: Although many studies have been conducted in the telepathology field in recent years, a systematic review that examines studies in a comparative manner has not yet been undertaken. This paper aims to review the published papers on telepathology projects and compare them in several aspects such as telepathology method,telecommunication method, clinical outcome, etc. Method: This is a systematic review study. PubMed database was used to find the studies published in the past ten years (2004–2014). The 71 final related papers were evaluated. Data were extracted from these studies based on the following items: country, national (in country) or international (between countries), frozen section or slide, body part, type of camera used, telecommunication method, telepathology method, clinical outcome, cost evaluation, satisfaction evaluation and the description of consultation providers and receivers. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis. Results: Results showed that most of the studies were performed in developed countries on a national level, on slide and on a specific body part. In most studies, a Nikon camera was used to take images. Online methods were the most used telecommunication method in the studies, while store and forward was the most used telepathology method. Clinical outcome of many studies showed that telepathology is a reliable and accurate method for consultation. More than half of the studies considered the cost, and most of them showed that a telepathology system is cost effective. Few studies evaluated satisfaction of the participants. In most studies, the telepathology project was undertaken between pathologists. Conclusion: Although there is enough evidence to suggest that telepathology is an effective way of consultation between pathologists, there are still some areas that should be addressed and for which there is a lack of convincing evidence. For example, pathologist satisfaction, cost evaluation, legal issues and ethical issues still need to be addresse

Design and Evaluation of an Anesthesia Decision Support Mobile Application

Introduction: Anesthesia is one of the processes in which medication error is common. One of the most frequent medication errors in anesthesia is the error in calculating the dose of drugs. Decision support systems are one of the available solutions to reduce these errors. The purpose of this study was to design and evaluate an anesthesia decision support mobile application to assist anesthesiologists to choose the right and timely prescription of drugs. Method: This practical cross-sectional study was conducted in three stages including needs assessment, design, and evaluation. The needs assessment of this mobile app was performed using semi-structured interviews with physicians. After drawing the initial design, the mobile app was developed for the Android operating system, and in the end, it was evaluated based on accuracy and speed of calculation indicators. Results: The output of the interviews was classified into three categories including physicians’ views on the need to develop the app, the expected facilities and capabilities of the app, and the information content of the app. The evaluation results of this app showed that in all groups, except the expert group, the calculation time required by physicians was longer than the one by the mobile app. Moreover, the highest number of correct answers was given by the app user group and then the fourth-year resident group. Conclusion: An anesthesia decision support mobile app for physicians can significantly increase the accuracy and speed of physicians’ medication calculations. So far, no anesthesia mobile app has been developed in Iran according to valid international guidelines. Therefore, the results of this study can be taken into consideration by health service providers