This study addresses the design and validation of the experiential curriculum model for medical education using a feministic approach. It was conducted on two non-separable planes. In the first plan, the model was designed based on the feministic approach using the theoretical study method and emphasizing the perspectives ascribed to Nell Noddings, Madeline Grumet, and Janette Miller. The levels of this model included expected curriculum, imaginal curriculum, concealed curriculum, interactive curriculum (manifest curriculum, latent curriculum, look the parenting), transferential curriculum, and self-determination. In the second plane, to validate the combined model, a phenomenologically qualitative study was conducted. In this study, using goal-oriented sampling, undergraduate and graduate (Master's degree) students majoring in Dentistry, Nursing at Islamic Azad University Khorasgan Branch, Esfahan, as well as those at Esfahan University of Medical Sciences were selected. Deep interview was used to collect the data. The findings were analyzed using Van Manen's six-stage model. To determine the reliability of the findings, reliability of reality reconstruction were used. The results obtained suggested that education is in need of some conceptual reconstruction. In this way, women's perceptions and experience of education and of the interior epistemological and curricular system which shape the discourse and performance of education must be addressed. Serving as a research model offering the various planes of the experiential curriculum and focusing more sharply on the dimensions of curriculum than the formal plane, the present study is recommended to the decision-makers of higher education curricular system.

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Although some tests for clinical reasoning assessment are now available, the theories of medical expertise have not played a major role in this filed. In this paper, illness script theory was chose as a theoretical framework and contemporary clinical reasoning tests were put together based on this theoretical model. Based on this model, we concluded that no single test could thoroughly assess clinical reasoning competency, and therefore a battery of clinical reasoning tests is needed. This battery should cover all three parts of clinical reasoning process: Script activation, selection and verification. In addition, not only both analytical and non-analytical reasoning, but also both diagnostic and management reasoning should evenly take into consideration in this battery. This paper explains the process of designing and implementing the battery of clinical reasoning in the Olympiad for medical sciences students through an action research.

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Marketing is one of the essential parts of any business corporation in the modern management. One can see the difference between corporations in gaining their goals, considering their marketing methods. Gaining more advantage or acquiring more funds can be of reasons for marketing, but these are not all the reasons. Perhaps the most important reason for marketing is increasing the customer satisfaction. This, in turn, leads to more willingness in payment and using services. Nowadays, due to rapid growth in ICT, changes in budgets, rapid growth in development and use of knowledge, variety of users and their needs, marketing has become an important factor in any library activities. Libraries are now more responsible in this regard, because marketing is now an important tool in improving users' satisfaction in using library services. Hence, marketing is now very important for libraries to survive in the increasing pressures of competitive conditions of the information market. This article is tapping on issues such as information marketing, principles of marketing, marketing techniques, developing markets, and marketing skills. Some recommendations are also presented for marketing in libraries.

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Background:  Information and communication technology (ICT) has brought many changes in medical education and practice in the last couple of decades. Teaching and learning medicine particularly has gone under profound changes due to computer technologies, and medical schools around the world have invested heavily either in new computer technologies or in the process of adapting to this technological revolution. In order to catch up with the rest of the world, developing countries need to research their options in adapting to new computer technologies. Materials and Methods:  This descriptive survey study was designed to assess medical students' computer and Internet skills and their attitude toward ICT. Results:  Research findings showed that the mean score of self-perceived computer knowledge for male students in general was greater than for female students. Also, students who had participated in various prior computer workshops, had access to computer, Internet, and e-mail, and frequently checked their e-mail had higher mean of self-perceived knowledge and skill score. Finally, students with positive attitude toward ICT scored their computer knowledge higher than those who had no opinion. Conclusions:  The results have confirmed that the medical schools, particularly in developing countries, need to bring fundamental changes such as curriculum modification in order to integrate ICT into medical education, creating essential infrastructure for ICT use in medical education and practice, and structured computer training for faculty and students.

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Background:  Family health is one of the World Health Organization's (WHO) programs concerning individuals' and families' health and development. If properly implemented, family health may ensure the health of human beings and support their self-fulfillment; and may pave the way for bringing up a healthier and better generation by achieving two important and specific quantitative and qualitative results. This study aims at establishing the existing problems in the medical education system with respect to family health, which may be managed by the family health professional if a Masters' course educational program is developed. Materials and Methods:  In this cross-sectional, descriptive study, five Type-1 and four Type-2 and Type-3 universities were randomly selected. Then, the faculty members of health services/public health departments, health managers, health and treatment networks managers, personnel of provincial health centers in family health units, and also public health B. S. students were surveyed on the existing problems in the national health system which can be solved by family health professional. A questionnaire containing one open-ended and several demographic questions was sent by mail for some and personally handed over to some others. Since the data were of a qualitative nature, first the categories were specified through content analysis and then the opinions of each category of individuals were differentiated based on the relevant categories. Results:  Results obtained from the comments of the study population led to specification of problems in health system, which could be solved by the family health senior expert. Such problems were categorized into six groups as: Planning and implementation, research, education, management, service-providing, and cultural problems. Conclusion:  Given the problems in our nation concerning various family health issues, the field of family health in the levels of associate and bachelor degrees cannot respond to all public requirements, and health personnel in these levels do not possess various professional, planning, research, and educational skills required to analyze family health problems. Therefore, it is suggested that a Masters' course educational program be developed.

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Background:  Despite their ascribed intellectual ability and achieved academic pursuits, medical students' academic achievement is influenced by motivation. This study is an endeavor to examine the role of motivation in the academic achievement of medical students. Materials and Methods:  In this cross-sectional correlational study, out of the total 422 medical students, from 4th to final year during the academic year 2007-2008, at School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, 344 participated in completion of the Inventory of School Motivation (ISM), comprising 43 items and measuring eight aspects of motivation. The gold standard for academic achievement was their average academic marks at pre-clinical and clinical levels. Data were computer analyzed by running a couple of descriptive and analytical tests including Pearson Correlation and Student's t -student. Results:  Higher motivation scores in areas of competition, effort, social concern, and task were accompanied by higher average marks at pre-clinical as well as clinical levels. However, the latter ones showed greater motivation for social power as compared to the former group. Task and competition motivation for boys was higher than for girls. Conclusion:  In view of our observations, students' academic achievement requires coordination and interaction between different aspects of motivation.

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Introduction:  Netiquette is appropriate behavioral etiquette when communicating through computer networks or virtual space. Identification of a dominant organizational culture and its relationship with a network culture offers applied guidelines to top managers of the university to expand communications and develop and learn organization through the use of the internet. The aim of this research was to examine the relationship between netiquette and organizational culture among faculty members of the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (IUMS), Iran. Materials and Methods:  To achieve this aim, the research method in this study was correlational research, which belonged to the category of descriptive survey research. The target population comprised of 594 faculty members of the IUMS, from which a sample of 150 was randomly selected, based on a simple stratified sampling method. For collecting the required data, two researcher-made questionnaires were formulated. Even as the first questionnaire tended to measure the selected sample members' organizational culture according to Rabbin 's model (1999), the latter was designed in the Health Management and Economic Research Center (HMERC), to evaluate netiquette. The reliability of the questionnaires was computed by Choronbach's alpha coefficient formula and they happened to be 0.97 and 0.89, respectively. Ultimately, SPSS Version #15 was used for the statistical analysis of the data. Results:  The findings revealed that the organizational culture and netiquette were below average level among the sample members, signifying a considerable gap in the mean. In spite of that, there was no significant relationship between netiquette and the organizational culture of the faculty members. Conclusion:  Emphasizing the importance of cultural preparation and a network user's training, this research suggests that the expansion of network culture rules among IUMS and organizational official communications, through the use of internet networks, in order to promote university netiquette and convenience in communication development, on the basis of special etiquette.

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Introduction:  Development and growth in any country, without an efficient evaluation system, such as that of the national health systems, lacks the basic concepts in order to achieve the system's goals. The balanced scorecard (BSC) is a technique widely used to measure the performance of an organization. The basic core of the BSC is formed by the organization's vision and strategy, which is a basis for the formation of four perspectives of balanced scorecards, and the financial results are obtained when the efforts of the organization are directed at three other areas. The goal of this research is to evaluate the performance of the Al-Zahra Academic Center at the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences based on Iran BSC model. Materials and Methods:  This research was a combination (quantitative-qualitative) research that had been done in the Al-Zahra Academic Center of the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, in 2011. The research population consisted of managers at different levels in the hospital. In this research, the approach of sampling was: Purposive sampling, wherein, the key people were those who participated in determining the functional indicators of the hospital. These people were selected as the BSC team members. After determining the conceptual elements in a focused discussion group, the performance goals and indicators of the hospital were determined and sorted in the balanced scorecard perspectives. Next, the indicators were calculated by the experts, by attention being given to the determined goals, score given to each indicator, and then the score of a perspective being clarified, by adding the indicator scores of each perspective. Findings:  The strategies agreed upon by the participants in the focus discussion group on the idea of the Iran BSC model included six strategies, such as, customer satisfaction, continuous quality improvement, development of human resources, establishment of a management information system, innovation, expansion of services, and improving the efficiency, which determined the mission and vision of the hospital. The BSC team also determined four perspectives in the balance scorecard. For the patients and community perspectives (customer) and goals of increasing the satisfaction for the service recipients, as also for increasing the response to patients, three indicators were agreed upon. By calculation and estimation of the average, the score of this perspective was determined to be 75.9%. For internal process perspectives with goals such as documentation of conceptual and clinical elements, improving the quality of services, developing activities appropriate for the needs of the patients and society, continuous improvement of time management, and determination and calculation of 14 indicators, a score of 79.37% was determined. For the learning and growth perspective, with the goal of development of human recourses, increasing the employee's motivation, promoting information technology, encouraging innovation, and support of applicable researches, a score of 81.11% was determined by calculating the average of the eight indicators in it. Finally, the score of the financial perspective, with the goal of increasing the revenue of the hospital and reasonably reducing the costs, by calculating the average of five determined indicators in this perspective, was estimated to be 67.15%.

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Background:  Considering the significance of quality of life in chronic diseases and the role of education in its improvement, this study was performed to investigate the effect of cognitivebehavioral therapy on improving the quality of life of cardiovascular patients in Isfahan city. Materials and Methods:  In this experimental study, 56 patients, who referred to Chamran Hospital and Isfahan Cardiovascular Research Center, were randomly selected and assigned to two groups, i.e. experiment and control. The experiment group was trained in eight sessions, each session taking 2 hours. Both groups received McNew quality of life questionnaire before and 2 weeks after treatment. Some demographic data were also gathered along with the questionnaire. Data were analyzed by SPSS software using statistical tests such as independent t-test, Chi-square, and analysis of covariance. Results:  Observing the possible effect of pre-test, cognitive-behavioral therapy had a significant effect on the total score of quality of life and its three subscales. Conclusion:  It seems that along with other medical therapies, making use of cognitive-behavioral intervention is an appropriate method for improving the quality of life of cardiovascular patients.

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