Clinical assessment methods in medical sciences universities of Tehran – clinical instructors’ viewpoint

Introduction: Assessment and evaluation are crucial steps in educational process that play major role in the process of medical education, by certifying competent physicians who can take care of the public health. The purpose of this study was investigation of clinical medical teachers' opinion about using clinical assessment tools in their clinical setting. Methods: The survey was a descriptive study that was done in Tehran city universities. Population under the study consisted of academic clinical experts that work as faculty members. The questionnaire was made by using the suggested criteria by ACGME and other valid scientific resources. 83 questionnaires were collected Analysis of data was conducted with SPSS version 17, using descriptive statistics. Results: Results indicated that the majority of the subjects believe that, the dominant method in clinical setting is MCQ method. OSCE and Logbook are the next methods. Furthermore, MSF and Portfolio are not used often. However, in Iran University Medical Sciences, the variation of clinical assessment tools were more than other two universities. Conclusion: It seems that, measurement competency and performance had been toward simulation and unreal situations. The results show that, only in a limited number of clinical training environments, the performance evaluation and real clinical activity has been emphasized.