Internal Assessment of Department of Radiology at Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences during 2011-2012

Dear Editor The aim of educational assessment is promoting the quality of education and efficiency in the educational system (1). In every educational system, keeping quality requires awareness of the strengths and weaknesses and measurement of the objectives (2). The internal assessment is carried out as an introduction to perform external assessment in order to do budgeting and ranking of universities. Therefore, in the past two decades different departments embarked on internal assessment (self-assessment) (3). The result of the internal assessment of the internal department at Semnan University of Medical Sciences was reported as below average (4). Also, the findings of the internal assessment of the parasitology and mycology department at Urmieh University of Medical Sciences were favorable in terms of management, faculty members, education and students’ conditions. The indices of manpower and logistics, and educational and research facilities, however, were classified as rather favorable (5). The present study was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted according to the objective-based assessment model. The assessment factors comprised of educational objectives, managerial and organizational factors, faculty members, research activities, student, facilities and educational environment. First, the factors and indicators were determined and proper strategies to collect the data were unanimously agreed on. Then, the questionnaires and checklists were prepared and filled by the faculty members. The results in each domain were classified into three levels of favorable (the score higher than 75% out of total score), rather favorable (the score between 25% and 75% out of total score) and unfavorable (the score lower than 25% out of total score). The data were collected and analyzed by descriptive statistics. The findings indicated that factors associated with management and organization and faculty member domains were in favorable condition (72%), research activities domain was in unfavorable condition (46%), educational environment (80%) and educational facilities (75%) in Imam Reza hospital were in favorable condition (80%) and in Taleghani hospital (46%) they were in unfavorable condition (29%). The domains of apprenticeship (58%) and internship (70%) were in semi-favorable condition. Concerning results obtained from the internal assessment of educational program at radiology department, there were several strengths and weaknesses. The most important strengths in management, organization and faculty member domains were longer management experience of the head of the department, holding regular training programs and reviewing courses, and passing educational courses inside the country; in educational facilities and resources domain, however, sufficient library room, availability of reference books and authentic journals, adequate radiology, fluoroscopy, high quality mammography machines, digital radiology system, modern angiography, digital filing system for images and other accessories, and independent sonography section with various rooms were reported as the most important strengths. Further, the most important weaknesses were low academic rank of the faculty members, unfavorable status of authorship, translation and research, lack of suitable environment and waiting hall for patients, inappropriate ventilation of sonography and radiology rooms, lack of timetable for the quality control of radiology and MRI machines, and lack of MRI machines, which did not satisfy the educational and diagnostic needs. The condition of the radiology department indicated that the authorities and faculty members should pay more attention and design a comprehensive program to enhance the quality of the department.