Evaluating the effect of the time of holding classes on educational outcome in the theoretical health course

 Background: The quality of an educational program is an important issue in medical educational system. Among the affecting factors, the time of education is the less notified one. In this research, we evaluated the role of time of education on the success rate of theoretical health course. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on medical students at Babol University of Medical Sciences, classified in two different groups: morning class and afternoon class. Three different examination tools, including a) pre and post-test, b) midterm and c) final exam were used to compare the success rate between the two groups. Descriptive parameter and independent T-test were used for data analysis using SPSS-16.  Results: Findings of the three examinations of the total 118 students showed that the mean score of pre and post-test in students educated in the afternoon classes were significantly higher than their counterparts, but the mean score of the final exam was not significantly different. Conclusion: As a conclusion no significant differences were observed between the morning and evening medical students in the health course lecture.  

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Keywords: Medical education , theoretical course , the time of holding classes , educational outcome