Features of Medical Student's Theses at Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences during a Five-Year Period

Introduction: Most of the studies conducted in Iranian medical schools are carried out as student's theses on which a lot of time and energy is spent. The purpose of the present study was to determine the characteristics of medical student's theses at Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences during a five year period (2004-2008).

Methods: In this descriptive, cross-sectional study a checklist consisting of 21 questions was designed. The data were gathered from all medical student's theses during 2004-2008 (n=189) using a consensus method of data collection. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics using SPSS software.

Results: In terms of type, most of the theses were descriptive cross-sectional (33.3%), descriptive (29.1%), and descriptive-analytical (18.5%). The highest number of theses belonged to clinical psychiatry (18.5%) and obstetrics and gynecology (17.5%) departments. Other departments, especially basic science departments had the lowest number of theses because clinical teachers constituted 86.2% of the supervisors. The duration of the thesis completion was between 2 and 24 months. Using hospital records and inpatients files were the methods mostly used for data collection and as data sources. Furthermore, we could not find an appropriate assessment and scoring system of theses in place.

Conclusion: Medical student's theses lacked appropriate quality therefore this issue should be seriously taken into consideration by educational managers.