Educational Needs of Medical Records Practitioners in Isfahan Teaching Hospitals

Introduction: Need assessment through testing the staff's skills and knowledge reveals the gap between the present and optimal situation and helps prioritize job needs. Educational need assessment is an essential step in developing educational programs and improving human resources' skills and knowledge. So this research was done to determine educational needs of medical records practitioners' in Isfahan teaching hospitals. Methods: This descriptive study was performed in 2008. The study sample included all medical records practitioners (N=77) in teaching hospitals affiliated with Isfahan University of Medical Sciences by census. Data collection was done through a researcher-designed questionnaire for assessing needs in three parts: technical, perceptual and human skills. The validity was confirmed by experts and the reliability by using coefficient Cronbach’s alpha (94%).For data analysis, descriptive statistics measures of frequency, mean, standard deviation, and inferential statistics measures of T- test and one-way variance test (ANOVA) by SPSS-11 were employed. Results: As for technical skills, maximum educational need was related to filing unit(106.87±28.06) and minimum educational need related to admission unit(25.39±6.18). Regarding perceptional skills, maximum educational need was related to coding unit (57.58±6.08) and minimum educational need related to admission unit (50.50±16.3). Regarding human skills, maximum educational need (37.32±4.24) was related to admission unit and minimum educational need (33.50±11.27)was related to filing unit. Conclusion: According to the inferred priorities, it is necessary, through formulating and implementing educational programs, to promote and develop technical skills in filing sections, perceptual skills in coding and statistics sections, and human communication skills of staff in admission sections for medical records practitioners in Isfahan teaching hospitals.