internal assessment of department of radiology at kermanshah university of medical sciences during 2011-2012

he aim of educational assessment is promoting the quality of educationand efficiency in the educational system (1). in every educational system,keeping quality requires awareness of the strengths and weaknesses andmeasurement of the objectives (2).the internal assessment is carried out as an introduction to performexternal assessment in order to do budgeting and ranking of universities.therefore, in the past two decades different departments embarked on internalassessment (self-assessment) (3). the result of the internal assessment of theinternal department at semnan university of medical sciences was reported asbelow average (4). also, the findings of the internal assessment of theparasitology and mycology department at urmieh university of medical scienceswere favorable in terms of management, faculty members, education and students’conditions. the indices of manpower and logistics, and educational and researchfacilities, however, were classified as rather favorable (5).the present study was a descriptive cross-sectional study conductedaccording to the objective-based assessment model. the assessment factorscomprised of educational objectives, managerial and organi­zational factors,faculty members, research activities, student, facilities and educationalenvironment. first, the factors and indicators were determined and properstrategies to collect the data were unanimously agreed on. then, the questionnairesand checklists were prepared and filled by the faculty members. the results ineach domain were classified into three levels of favorable (the score higherthan 75% out of total score), rather favorable (the score between 25% and 75%out of total score) and unfavorable (the score lower than 25% out of totalscore). the data were collected and analyzed by descriptive statistics. the findings indicated that factors associated with management andorganization and faculty member domains were in favorable condition (72%),research activities domain was in unfavorable condition (46%), educationalenvironment (80%) and educational faci­lities (75%) in imam reza hospital werein favorable condition (80%) and in taleghani hospital (46%) they were in unfavorablecondition (29%). the domains of apprenticeship (58%) and internship (70%) werein semi-favorable condition.concerning results obtained from the internal assessment of educationalprogram at radiology department, there were several strengths and weakn­esses.the most important strengths in management, organization and faculty memberdomains were longer management experience of the head of the department,holding regular training programs and reviewing courses, and passingeducational courses inside the country; in educational facilities and resourcesdomain, however, sufficient library room, availability of reference books andauthentic journals, adequate radiology, fluoroscopy, high quality mammographymachines, digital radiology system, modern angio­graphy, digital filing systemfor images and other accessories, and independent sonography section withvarious rooms were reported as the most important strengths. further, the most important weaknesses were low academic rank of thefaculty members, unfavorable status of authorship, translation and research,lack of suitable environment and waiting hall for patients, inappropriateventilation of sonography and radiology rooms, lack of timetable for thequality control of radiology and mri machines, and lack of mri machines, whichdid not satisfy the educational and diagnostic needs. the condition of theradiology department indicated that the authorities and faculty members shouldpay more attention and design a comprehensive program to enhance the quality ofthe department.