Quality assessment of clinical rounds at Kashan University of Medical Sciences based on clinical education standards

Introduction: Clinical education is one of the critical areas of medical education which plays a major role in shaping learners' professional competencies and provides an opportunity for students to apply their theoretical knowledge in a practical way. Clinical Rounds are the most prominent type of clinical education that is provided during the process of diagnosis, treatment, and patient care in educational hospital wards. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical round status in Kashan Shahid-Beheshti Hospital Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 302 physicients and medical students of Kashan University of Medical Sciences in 2019. Initially, a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire was developed based on clinical education standards developed by the Ministry of Health. Face and content validity and reliability of the questionnaire were confirmed (r = 0.955). In the next phase, using this tool, the clinical status of the faculty members, physicians, residents, interns and clerks in different educational departments was evaluated. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (t-test) (P≤0.05). Results: Participants consisted of 302 subjects who believed that the clinical round status was higher than normal level. They had mostly marked desirable/most desirable choices in the questionnaire. The mean score of clinical round status was significantly higher in the internal, pediatric, gynecological, infectious and psychiatric groups (P<0.001). Conclusion: The clinical round status was reported to be favorable. It seems that awareness of the educational standards in clinical practice is effective in improving its quality and ultimately improving the learners’ clinical competency and providing health care services.