Development Strategies in Medical Education

Introduction: Today, philosophers have introduced the ultimate goal in higher education institutions as critical thinking skills. Thus this study was conducted to compare the critical thinking skills between years of education of bachelor students in Fasa University of Medical Sciences.

Methods: This study was conducted on 150 Studying BSc students in various terms from Fasa University of Medical Sciences in 2015 Academic year. The instrument used was the California Critical Thinking Skills Test, Form B (CCTST, FB) composed of 34 multiple choice questions. The data was analyzed using independent t-test and ANOVA by SPSS software.

Results: The mean score for critical thinking of students was 11.35±2.7. The total score of critical thinking and all of that’s dimensions were higher for girls compared with boys (P-Value < 0.05). But no significant difference was observed between different years of study and different majors.

Conclusion: The mean of scores was lower than moderate and doesn’t show significant improvement during the studying years. Based on these findings and considering the necessity of development of critical thinking skills among students of medical sciences, revising the existing educational programs and the use of appropriate methods of teaching critical thinking to students during their education seems necessary.