Abstract
Background: The integration method is an important and practical educational strategy to establish effective communication between faculty members and students in the teaching-learning process. This study aimed to investigate the position of integration in the undergraduate curriculum of Health Information Technology from the perspective of stakeholders.
Methods: An exploratory qualitative study with a content analysis approach was conducted at the Sari Paramedical School at Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. Participants consisted of administrators, faculty members, graduates, and students who were selected purposively and continued until saturation was reached. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, analyzed using the Zhang and Wildmouth method, and Lincoln and Guba criteria were used to ensure data accuracy.
Results: Codes extracted from 17 interviews were placed in 9 subcategories and 4 main categories. The current image category was categorized into two subcategories: “Curriculum gap and curriculum clarity”, the perspective on integration into two subcategories: “Advantages and disadvantages”, the challenges into three subcategories: “Faculty, students and educational challenges”, and the proposed measures into two subcategories: “Lesson design and delivery”. The analysis of interviews with stakeholders emphasized the need to plan the integration of anatomy and physiology courses and medical terminology courses 1 and 2.
Conclusion: In order to successfully implement integration, it is necessary to use appropriate teaching and evaluation methods, formative and summative, use the opinions of professors to facilitate and successfully implement and empower them, train staff in parallel with the training of professors and students, formulate relevant rules and regulations and implement them, create a culture and appropriate organizational culture, and allocate appropriate time and space.
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