ARTICLE INFO

Article Type

Original Research

Authors

Salemi   M. (* )
Omidian   F. (1 )
Salemi   M. (2 )






(* ) Educational Sciences Department, Human Sciences Faculty, Dezful Branch, Islamic Azad University, Dezful, Iran
(1 ) Educational Sciences Department, Human Sciences Faculty, Dezful Branch, Islamic Azad University, Dezful, Iran
(2 ) Medical Department, Dentistry Faculty, Centro Escolar University, Manila, Philippines

Correspondence

Address: Daneshgah Boulevard, Azadegan Town, Dezful, Iran. Post Box: 313
Phone: +98 6416260601
Fax: +98 6416260601
m.sa669@yahoo.com

Article History

Received:  May  18, 2013
Accepted:  October 27, 2013
ePublished:  February 4, 2015

BRIEF TEXT


Expanding higher education system regardless of existing capacity and economic, social and cultural structure of the society, leads to the reducing the quality of higher education system [1]. ...[2, 4] Quantitative expansion of the nursing and midwifery courses has resulted in descending trend of quality in education and educational institutions have to provide more services for the past limited sources [5].According to the framework of educational program in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Islamic Azad University of Dezful (Iran), if the facilities leads to the desired output, the educational system has the internal efficiency [6].

Evaluation and investigation of micro-level different educational groups performance has been conducted through measuring the efficiency [7-13].

The aim of this study was to compare the efficiency of the two educational departments of Nursing and Midwifery in Islamic Azad University of Dezful (Iran) during the years between 2005 and 2011 by means of analysis of students flow through educational cohort.

This is a descriptive and cross-sectional study.

Undergraduate students of Nursing and Midwifery of Islamic Azad University of Dezful (Iran) who had enrolled from 2005 to 2011 were studied.

1450 undergraduate nursing students and 1560 undergraduate midwifery students were entered the study through census.

To determine the internal efficiency, Cohort analysis tools were used. To collect primary data through document analysis and obtaining the required information and statistics of students, the researchers referred to the related schools. Educational indicators which were used as the research tools were as follows: Upgrade (acceptance) which is the ratio of students in a certain educational level who have successfully passed all the courses and have entered the next academic year at the same level, internal efficiency which means the ratio of products to the production factors that is measurable through student flow model or cohort, the loss ratio which is obtained through dividing the production factors by actual product, the average of educational period of undergraduates which is the length that the students have been studying and is 8 semesters or 4 years for both Midwifery and Nursing, survival which is calculated in each level or academic year through deducting of sum of dropouts in each academic year from the total number of students in that level of academic year and then dividing by total number of the students entered the first grade of that academic level. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and using SPSS 13 software.

1560 students enrolled in 2005-2006 academic year in Midwifery course. 732 students graduated after four allowed years in 2009-2010. 65 students had 3year excessive length of studies. 763 students withdrew from the study or were dismissed. Of 1456 students enrolled in Nursing in first grade, 1235 people were graduated after four years. 160 people were graduated by 3 excessive years. 61 people could not finish their education due to various reasons (Table 1). Survival rate was higher in the first years than in subsequent years. The survival rate in both groups had decreasing trend during the four years of academic education. Department of nursing had the higher potential of maintenance comparing with department of midwifery. Midwifery students spent more time for graduation compared to nursing students. In general both groups had excessive length of studies than the allowed four years for graduation. Midwifery students had higher academic failure compared to nursing students. In addition, both groups of students had the educational waste during their educational period. The educational operation or internal efficiency of nursing group was higher than internal efficiency of midwifery group. In general, the internal efficiency of school in both nursing and midwifery groups was satisfactory (table 2).

The internal efficiency of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Islamic Azad University of Dezful, was 72% in the year 2011-2012 indicating 28% of lack of internal efficiency or academic failure. The internal efficiency of the midwifery students with 63.14% was relatively significantly lower in comparison with the nursing students with 76.40%. The results obtained in this study were consistent with the majority of domestic or foreign research in this area. Educational length of a part of Civil Engineering Students in Shahrekord and Najafabad (Iran) has been more than the allowed educational period. Also, some of the students in both universities had educational waste [12] which is consistent with the results of current study. …[14]. Educational waste and excessive length of studies among the students of Kerman University of Medical Sciences have been recorded [15] which is consistent with the results of this study. Efficiency of doctorate students in the University of Medical Science in Yazd (Iran) and the elements of the program have been less than the optimal efficiency level [9] which is in accordance with the results of current study. The efficiency of educational department in the Medical University of Kerman (Iran) does not have optimal level, and to reach the optimal level of efficiency they have to increase their product to the specific level and reduce their production factors [11]. These results are in accordance with the results of the current study. The educational situation of the Environmental Health post diploma course in the Health School, Medical University of Ardebil (Iran) has been in the semi-optimal level [10] that is also consistent with the findings of the current study. …[16, 17]

Necessary arrangements for further training of young university instructors in the use of proper teaching methods must be provided.

The sheer size and distribution of data and inappropriate methods of classifying data in the School of Nursing and Midwifery was of the limitations for this study.

Internal efficiency of midwifery students in Islamic Azad University of Dezful has been lower than the internal efficiency of nursing students during the years 2005 to 2011.

Researchers appreciate the Deputies of Research and Training in the Islamic Azad University of Dezful.

Non-declared

Non-declared

Research Deputy of the Islamic Azad University of Dezful funded the research.

TABLES and CHARTS

Show attach file


CITIATION LINKS

[1]Salehiniya H. Commentary on: Evaluation of internal efficiency and external effectiveness of the general medicine curriculum: Perspectives of students, graduates and faculty members at Shahid Sadughi University of Medical Sciences. Iran J Med Educ. 2013;13(5):444-7. [Persian]
[2]Hhachian A, Manoochehri H, Pazargadie M, Akbarzadeh Baghban A. A qualitative study of managers' perspectives related to change management in schools of nursing and midwifery. Iran J Nurs Res. 2013;8(2):1-9. [Persian]
[3]Shahrabadi E, Rezaeian M, Haghdoost A. The relationship of study and learning approaches with students’ academic achievement in Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences. Iran J Med Educ. 2014;13(10):860-8. [Persian]
[4]Sheikhalipour Z, Fathiazar E, Lotfi M, Pakpour V, Aghajari P, Ali Mokhtari Z. Concept of evidence based nursing and nursing education . Iran J Med Educ. 2014;14(6):507-16. [Persian]
[5]Alikhani Sh, Markazi Moghadam N, Boroomand S, Zand Balgeh M. Investigate the factors influencing the decline in nursing students between 1380 and 1383, the Army University of Medical Sciences. Health Sci Mil J. 2006;4(2):819-24. [Persian]
[6]Taghipur zahir A. Introduction to educational planning and curriculum. Tehran: Agah; 2012. [Persian]
[7]Hosseini Nejad Z, Mousapour N. Assessing internal efficiency indicators for medical education at Kerman University of Medical Sciences. Iran J Med Educ. 2004;4(1):3-13.
[8]Katharaki M, Katharakis G. A comparative assessment of Greek universities efficiency using quantitative analysis. Int J Educ Res. 2010;49:115-28.
[9]Mohammadi M, Naseri Jahromi R, Moeini Shahraki H, Mehrabaniyan N. Evaluation of internal efficiency and external effectiveness of the general medicine curriculum: Perspectives of students, graduates and faculty members at Shahid Sadughi University of Medical Sciences. Iran J Med Educ. 2013;13(3):233-43. [Persian]
[10]Hamidzade Arbabi Y, Sadeghi H, Aligardi M, Hazrati S, Mokhtari A, Sadig A, et al. Internal evaluation profile and educational status of Environmental Health Technician Students of Medical Science. J Health Hygine. 1995;1(2):42-51. [Persian]
[11]Goudarzi G, Khosravi S, Askari R. Performance appraisal of selected departments in Kerman University of Medical Sciences: A quantitative study. Iran J Med Educ. 2012;12(3):193-201. [Persian]
[12]Yarmohammadian M, Kalbasi A. Internal evaluation of departments in the school of management and medical informatics, Isfahan University of Medical Science. Iran J Med Educ. 2006;6(1):125-34. [Persian]
[13]Yousefi A, Yarmohammadian M, Dadman M. Internal efficiency evaluation indicators in Universities of Medical Sciences. Iran J Med Educ. 2008;7(2):409-21. [Persian]
[14]Emadzade M. Discussions about education economic. Esfahan: Jahad Daneshgahi Publications; 1998. [Persian]
[15]Hosseini Nejad Z, Mousapour N. Assessing internal efficiency indicators for medical education at Kerman University of Medical Sciences. Iran J Med Educ. 2004;4(1):3-13. ]Persian[
[16]Lever N, Sander MA, Lombardo S, Randall C, Axelrod J, Rubenstein M, et al. A drop-out prevention program for high-risk inner-city youth. Behav Modif. 2004; 28(4):513-27.
[17]Saber phirozi M, Panje Shahin M, Mousavi Nasab M. Causes of probation Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Proceedings of the Fourth National Conference on Medical Education. Medical Research Council of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. 2000; 10. ]Persian[