Background: Changes in the structure and nature of health care highlight the need for better collaboration between professions focusing on patient or health-care users. Interprofessional education (IPE) has attracted a lot of attention at the international level, and its positive consequences in different areas of health care have been investigated and approved. This study explored the opinions and viewpoints of professors and experts regarding the challenges to the implementation of interprofessional education in health profession education in Iran in 2018. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted with 15 IPE professors and experts using semi-structured interviews. We used an inductive approach to content analysis as developed by Elo et al. The interviews were analyzed using Graneheim and Lundman method by MAXQDA software version 12. Results: The main challenges to the implementation of IPE were categorized into educational system, structural and cultural challenges. The educational challenges were the professors’ lack of ability, a non-flexible and single-disciplined curriculum, and weaknesses in the current education. The professors and experts felt that the most important structural challenges included centralism, hierarchy of power, poor educational groundwork, and lack of support of organizations. Cultural challenges mainly related to the attitudes of managers, professors, and even students regarding IPE and the need for change. Conclusion: Designing and implementing IPE in Iran face major challenges. Cultural and attitude issues were the greatest challenges to be addressed in the context of implementing IPE in health-care education.

Background: Clinical teaching-learning is a context-bound phenomenon. One of the problems related to field of medical education research is the lack of sufficient attention to context-appropriate methodologies. The purpose of this qualitative inquiry is to explain and represent teaching-learning in the clinical education of general medicine in Iran using the three types of maps situational, social worlds/arenas, positional, in combination with discourse analysis. Methods: In this study, the authors used the situational analysis approach as a postmodern version of grounded theory. The data collection was undertaken in three stages. In the first stage, a mini literature review was conducted to highlight a possible gap in applying situational analysis in medical education research and the development of this methodology. In the second stage, the latest and most up-to-date documents of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MOHME) of Iran, the general medicine curriculum, and related documents were analyzed. Finally, the remote semi-structured interviews (web-based and telephone) were undertaken in the third stage. Participants in this stage included expert clinical teachers, medical education specialists, and students. In this study, the notes and transcripts were analyzed for the emergence and categorization of sub-themes and themes, represented in three maps. Results: Thirty-one participants were involved in the web-based interviews, while seven participants took part in the telephone interview. Based on this research, the teaching-learning situation in clinical education on general medicine in Iran was represented in three maps; situational, social worlds/arenas, and positional. In addition, the results showed, clinical education of general medicine in Iran in six positions (curriculum; culture, behavior and attitude; management and leadership; environment, space and time; financial; and technology) has serious problems and challenges. Finally, based on the horizontal axis of the positional map, recommendations were provided to develop and support effective clinical teaching. Conclusions: The clinical learning environment is a complex and multi-layered social environment in which should be considered these numerous social layers, arenas, social worlds, and discourses while developing curricula and teaching.

Teaching as the center of every curriculum is a set of actions undertaken to create and facilitate student learning. In recent years, the number of qualitative studies of effective teaching in clinical education of undergraduate medical education has increased. As the number of research studies grows, it is necessary to aggregate them. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to synthesize effective teaching-learning factors through the meta-synthesis in clinical education. In this study, the meta-synthesis approach was used to synthesize qualitative evidence in relation to effective teaching-learning factors in clinical education. From 1990 to 2021, electronic databases and journals were searched to identify studies and publications on effective teaching-learning factors in clinical education. Based on the combination and search strategies in the databases (OVID, PubMed, Web of Science, SCOPUS, Eric, Magiran, and SID), 33,799 and 56 studies were identified from other sources. Following reviewing the full text of the articles, 53 studies were selected. Forty-five studies were selected and included in the meta-synthesis process after critical appraisal using the Critical Appraisal Skills Program. The synthesis of qualitative evidence was developed as an effective teaching-learning framework in clinical education. Based on this comprehensive framework, effective teaching-learning in clinical education can be seen through behavioral or content (learner, teacher, and patient and their behaviors), social (collaborative learning community), pedagogical (instructional design and teaching-learning opportunities), contextual (positive and supportive clinical environment), and educational leadership (classroom management and structure) lenses. The current research is the first qualitative meta-synthesis to provide a thorough and comprehensive review of effective teaching-learning factors in clinical education. The results of this meta-synthesis provide a holistic view of clinical education and can help with clinical teaching-learning design.

Aim: The purpose of this paper is to explore themes for enhancing socially accountability in medical education.

The current literature supports the inclusion of inter-professional education in healthcare education. Changes in the structure and nature of the integrated medical education and healthcare system provide some opportunities for interprofessional education among various professions. This study is an attempt to determine the perceptions of students and faculty members about interprofessional education in the context of the medical education and healthcare system. This qualitative content analysis study was conducted using purposeful sampling in 2012. Thirteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with 6 faculty members and 7 students at Tehran and Iran Universities of Medical Sciences. Data collection and analysis were concurrent. Data analysis revealed four categories and nine subcategories. The categories emerging from individual interviews were “educational structure”, “mediating factors”, “conceptual understanding”, and “professional identity”. These categories are explained using quotes derived from the data. Matching the existing educational context and structure with IPE through removing barriers and planning to prepare the required resources and facilities can solve numerous problems associated with implementation and design of inter-professional training programs in Iran. In this way, promoting the development of a cooperative rather than a competitive learning and working atmosphere should be taken into account. The present findings will assist the managers and policy makers to consider IPE as a useful strategy in the integrated medical education and healthcare system.

Mobile learning is one of the innovative teaching techniques that help medical students gain knowledge and skills. One of the factors that expanded the use of this strategy was the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the educational pedagogy of such technology has been neglected. This article aimed to critically review available mobile learning models in medical education to suggest a comprehensive model in the field of mobile learning. We conducted this critical review based on the five steps of the Carnwell and Daly method. For a comprehensive systematic search from 2000 to April 2021, the following keywords were used: Personal Digital Assistant, m learning, Mobile learning, Ubiquitous learning, U learning, medical students, and medical education. 3176 studies in PubMed, Scopus, ERIC, Magiran, and Web of Science were identified. In total, 8 articles entered the study. Eight models of mobile learning in medical education were identified. The key features of each model were extracted and integrated into the new model for the successful design and implementation of mobile learning. This model includes three main elements of mobile learning: 1-stakeholders, 2-interaction, and 3-technology, which are influenced by external factors including Mobiquette, legitimacy, and awareness. The results of this study are an important contribution to the knowledge collection in mobile learning in medical education. We introduced a comprehensive model of mobile learning including specific characteristics of strategies in the context of medical education.