Background: One way to make change in the field of education is through future studies. Considering the role of future studies in building a better future for the country’s medical education and health system, the establishment of the required bases in medical education is necessary. Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the dimensions and components of future studies in the educational system of a university of medical sciences. Methods: In this grounded-theory study, the statistical population included expert and knowledgeable faculty members with an experience of delivering services as directors, principals, and deputies of the faculties of Babol University of Medical Sciences, Mazandaran, Iran. In-depth and exploratory individual interviews were held through a questionnaire containing six standard items within October and December 2018.The interview process was completed based on the data saturation law, and the required conclusion was drawn with 10 samples. Results: A questionnaire with 50 components in three main dimensions, including infrastructure (25 components), management and faculty members (9 components), and outputs (16 components), was designed. Moreover, the validity and reliability of the questionnaire were confirmed. Conclusion: It is time to build necessary capacities for future studies in the universities of medical sciences and provide the possibility for extensive participation and support of researchers and faculty members in future studies programs in the field of medical education and health research in Iran. The dimensions and components obtained from this study can be helpful in this regard.

Background: Teaching and training require ethical considerations. Objectives: the present study aimed at evaluating teaching ethics from the perspectives of professors and postgraduate students of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences based on a comparative approach. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed on all postgraduate students and their professors in the academic year of 2019-2020. A total of 284 postgraduate students and 42 professors were selected using a stratified random sampling method, according to the size of each stratum. The data collection instrument was the standard teacher's professional ethics scale including six subscales and 48 items, scored based on a five-point Likert scale from 1 to 5. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 21 using descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, and one-way analysis of variance. Results: The total mean score of professional ethics for professors was 3.67±0.63 and 4.29 ± 0.59 from the students' and professors’ perspectives, respectively. There was a significant difference between the students' and professors’ perspectives in each of the subscales (P <0.0001). There was a significant difference among schools in the teaching techniques mastery and observation of rules subscales. Conclusion: From the perspective of students, the status of teaching ethics is still far from the standard, and it needs more educational plans to improve.

Background: There was a challenge for teaching hospitals to accept residents for educational goals due to their training costs. Objectives: The present study aimed to estimate the actual costs of residency training in hospitals for policymaking, budgetary impact, and negotiation. Methods: This retrospective study was performed in eight teaching hospitals affiliated with the Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, in 2018. This study was based on the estimation of the actual costs of residency training for an academic year. Two scenarios were designed to estimate the costs of education per resident. All of the resources used by residents in the hospitals were identified. Cost items attributed to the training goals were allocated to the internal medicine and surgical fields; however, for cost items that were used for treatment and education, such as disposables and consumables and equipment, the cost drivers were used. Therefore, the difference between the scenarios was related to the cost drivers. In the first scenario, the expert panel defined the portion of residents of hospital resources. For the second scenario, the clinical staff-to-resident ratio was considered. Excel software (version 2010) was used for cost analysis. Results: Overall, the selected hospitals had spent $ 586,720.35 and $ 572,358.10 based on scenarios 1 and 2, respectively. The residency training per surgical resident in the hospitals was about 1.2 times higher than an internal medicine resident. Surgery, neurology, urology, and anesthesiology were the fields with the highest costs in the hospitals; nevertheless, psychiatry, occupational medicine, and geriatrics and gerontology were the fields with the lowest costs in the hospitals, respectively. Conclusion: Although residency training accounts for a large proportion of hospital costs, employing residents reduces the costs of human resources. Monitoring and controlling costs, as well as resource quotas for resident training, can be a way to reduce educational course costs in hospitals. Universities can cover some parts of the educational costs to motivate hospitals to make an appropriate setting for residents.