ارزيابي دروني : فرايندي جهت ارتقاي كيفيت آموزش در گروه آموزشي اطفال دانشگاه علوم پزشكي سمنان

Internal evaluation as a means of promoting the quality of education in the department of pediatrics of Semnan university of medical sciences

Introduction. Self rating or "internal evaluation" is a fundamental determinant for quality development in teaching departments and faculties. The purpose of this study was an internal evaluation of the Department of Pediatrics of Semnan University of Medical Sciences (SUMS) with quality developement of the department. Matherials and Methods. This study was performed in the pediatric ward of Amir- al-Momenin hospital of SUMS, during Jan. to Mar. 2000; utilizing an accreditation model. The assessment covered 6 areas, namely: "educational objectives", "therapeutic goals", "research activity","organizational ranking","teaching achievements" and "logistic parameters". Educational objectives and teaching achievement were evaluated at the level of clinical clerkship, internship and the first and third years of residentship. Therapeutic goals comprised the diagnostic and therapeutic facilities. Research activities consisted of the number of thesises supervised, contributions made to seminars and congresses and the number of papers compiled and published in medical periodicals by the teaching staff. Organizational ranking included the head of department, the members of the organizing body, and the teaching staff of the department. Logistic parameters encompassed the manpower and personnel of different subsectors of the department; as well as the available space and facilities of each. Data collection involved the use of 35 questionnaires with 460 criteria. The final score was obtained as the average of all scores and interpreted according to Gourman classification. Results. Educational objectives ranked as "more than satisfactory" with 3.45 pts, with those pertaining to first year residents and clerkship students being the highest and lowest respectively. Therapeutic goals and sanitary objectives ranked as "more than satisfactory" and "area of strength" with 3.2 and 4.16 pts, respectively. Appraisal of research objectives and teaching achievement placed the department in the "more than satisfactory" category with 3.2 & 3.52 pts., respectively. Organizational ranking and logistic parameters earned 3.07 and 3.6 pts., respectively and were appraised as "more than satisfactory". Conclusion. Analysis of the results placed the SUMS Department of Pediatrics in the "more than satisfactory" class of the Gourman classification; indicating an overally desirable modus operandi for the department. Three areas including the organizing body, paraclinical( particularly imaging) facilities and research activity of the department were found to be suboptimal, and to require further improvement.