need assessment of continuing professional education of health care management graduates, working in isfahan university of medical sciences & related health centers

introduction: by considering daily progress of advanced technology and unimaginable advances in the management technology region, demand to educate and improve working personnel of administrative health and hygiene fields seems to be vital by considering the present situation. the main purpose of this study is to specify the educational demand of health care management graduates who are working as managers, vp or experts of hospitals and other related health centers in isfahan, iran. methods: in this descriptive survey study, 67 health care management graduates working in isfahan university of medical sciences were enrolled, in 2008. the study tool was a researcher made questionnaire in three dimensions. reliability and validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts and calculating the cronbach's alpha coefficient (α = 0.75), respectively. study population was selected by stratified randomized method. all of these data were analyzed by spss statistical software. results: the first priority need of study population from the three studied domains was operational and technical skills with mean score of 3.49 +/- 0.12. among the operational and technical skills familiarity with computer and software use had the highest score. among the theoretical and conceptual skills globalization and multi-cultural organizations had the highest score in health care management graduates. conclusion: in fact operational needs, the needs that management graduates are dealing with it daily, and the needs related to computer use and information technology considered as the most important needs of operational skills. it is necessary that educational planners consider mentioned needs in the setting of annual program.