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

Introduction. Sel f rat ing or "internal evaluat ion" is a fundamental determina nt fo r qu ality development in teaching departments and faculties. The purpose of this study was an intern al evaluation of the Department of Pediatr ics of Semnan University of Medical Sciences (SUMS) with quality developernent of the department. Matherials and Methods. This study was pe rformed in the pediatric ward of Amir- alMomenin hospital of SUMS, during Ja n. to Mar. 2000 utilizing an accreditation model. The assessment covered 6 areas , namely: "educational obje ctives", "the rapeuti c goals", "resea rch activity","organizational ranking't'teaching achievements" and "logistic parame ters". Ed uca tional objec tives and te aching achievement were evaluated at the level of clinical clerkship, internship and the first and third years of residentship. Therape utic goals comprised th e diagnos tic and therapeutic facilities. Research activities consisted of the number of thesises supervised, contributions made to seminars and congresses and th e number of papers compiled and published in medical periodicals by the teachin g staff. Organizational ranking included the head of department, the members of the organizing body, and the te aching st aff of th e department. Logistic parameters encompassed the manpower and personnel of different subsectors of the department as well as the available space and facilities of each. Dat a collection involved th e use of 35 questionnaires with 460 criteria. The final score was obta ine d as the average of all scores and interpreted according to Go urman classification . Results. Ed ucational objectives ranked as "more th an sat isfacto ry" with 3.45 pts, with those pe rtaining to first year res idents and clerkship students being the highest and lowest respectively. Therapeutic goals and sanitary objectives ranked as "more th an satisfacto ry" and "area of strength" with 3.2 and 4.16 pts, respectively. App raisal of research objectives and teach ing achievement placed th e departmen t in the "more th an sat isfactory" category with 3.2 & 3.52 pts., respectively. Organizat ional ranking and logistic parameters earned 3.07 and 3.6 pts., respectively and were appra ised as "more than satisfacto ry". Conclusion . Analysis of the results placed the SUMS Department of Pediatrics in th e "more th an satisfacto ry" class of th e Gourman classification indicating an overally desirable modus operandi for the department. Three areas including the organizing body, para clinical( particular ly imaging) facilities and research activity of the department were fo und to be suboptimal, and to require fur the r improvement.