Abstract

Introduction: Clinical training is the most important part of medical sciences education and an innate part of it, which is recognized as the basis of professional training in terms of importance. But, it is obvious that traditional methods such as lecturing cannot be used today to effectively teach all of skills to learners and this is particularly true in the case of clinical skills training. Thus, this study is aimed to compare the effects of clinical training and evaluation by mixed method with routine method on practical learning of Anesthesia undergraduate students in clinical settings. Material and Method: this quasi-experimental study was conducted in Gerash School of Medical Sciences. The study population was all six-semester students in two consecutive academic years and they were divided by non-random method to control group (20 students) and case group (20 students). Clinical education and assessment in terms of cognitive objectives in operating room section was performed on students in the case and the control groups with mixed (new student-centered method) and routine methods, respectively. A researcher-made cognitive test was designed to measure learning. Student satisfaction with clinical training techniques was evaluated with a researcher-made test. SPSS-19 statistical software and t-test were used with Paired- and Independent-samples to analyze the data. Results: both mixed and routine methods could significantly enhance cognitive learning of the students. Comparing the two methods, cognitive learning was significantly improved by the student-centered mixed method than the routine method. Student satisfaction with student-centered mixed method was more than the routine method. The results showed that score (28.69) after the implementation of the routine method in the control group was higher than the scores (13.38) before this process. An increase in mean scores was observed in the case group after offering the educational strategies, so that mean scores in this group changed from 13.69 (before implementation of training strategies) to 34.53 (after implementation of training strategies). Related results to student satisfaction with training techniques in the groups showed that 52.6% and 88.2% of the students in the case and the control groups expressed respectively that use of training technique needs to spend time. 76% and 40.4% of the students in the case and the control groups expressed respectively that the training technique was worth spending time with. 92.4% and 47.1% of the students in the case and the control groups expressed respectively that they enjoyed the training technique. 62% and 35.5% of the students in the case and the control groups expressed respectively that the training technique had caused them to learn informative content from their classmates. Discussion: student-centered mixed method is a suitable method to enhance cognitive learning of Anesthesia undergraduate students in clinical settings. However, verification of this finding needs further study. According to the information given above, it was found that students mean score in the case group was higher than the control group. Student satisfaction was also high in the case group. The results also revealed that most of the students were willing to use this method in the future.