Summary: | Introduction: Internal evaluation is a fundamental determinant to quality development in teachingdepartments and faculties. The purpose of this study was an internal departmental evaluation in the publichealth department of Semnan university of medical sciences (SUMS).Materials and Methods: This work was performed (during 2008-2009) in department of public health ofSUMS utilizing an accreditation model. The assessment covered 9 areas, namely: educational missions andobjectives, management and organization, educational programs, scientific board, students, educationalresources, research activities, assessment and evaluation, and graduates. Questionnaires were developed bythe scientific members of the department. After collecting the data, results were categorized according toGourman scoring scale, from unsatisfied class to very strong class, with the range of 1-5 scores.Results: The mean scores in the 9 evaluation areas were obtained and the rankings were as below:Educational programs area was in strong ranking; educational missions and objectives, scientific board,and assessment and evaluation areas were in good ranking; management and organization area was in morethan satisfied ranking; students area was in satisfied ranking; educational resources and research activitiesareas were in borderline ranking; and finally, the department was ranked as unsatisfied in the graduatesarea.Conclusions: Results showed that by achieved mean of 3.19 in whole of the evaluation areas, the publichealth department has placed in "more than satisfied" class. Although the overall status is acceptable, thereis a need to modify the weak points in the suboptimal areas to improve the educational quality in thisdepartment.
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