Design and Validation of a Model for Enhancing the Quality of Clinical Education

Abstract

This study was conducted with the aim of designing and validating a model to enhance the quality of clinical education for medical students at Qom University of Medical Sciences, focusing on the strategic relationship between human resources and effective planning.The research design was a sequential exploratory mixed-methods approach. In the qualitative part, a qualitative case study was conducted with the participation of 15 clinical education experts (purposeful intensity sampling up to theoretical saturation). Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews and analyzed using the Attride–Stirling thematic analysis method in NVivo software. The trustworthiness of the research was ensured based on Lincoln and Guba’s criteria.In the quantitative part, this study was descriptive and survey-based; a researcher-made questionnaire (40 items in 10 components) derived from the qualitative findings was distributed among medical externs and interns. Two samples were used: validation (n = 200) and status evaluation (n = 162). Content validity was confirmed (CVI > 0.79), and reliability was found satisfactory (overall Cronbach’s alpha = 0.77; components between 0.72 and 0.88). To examine construct validity, confirmatory factor analysis (LISREL) was performed, and one-sample t-tests were used to assess the status of components compared to the criterion mean. Thematic analysis led to the identification of 40 basic themes, 10 organizing themes, and one global theme (“enhancement of clinical education quality”). Among the organizing themes, effective planning and human resources had the highest coding frequency. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good model fit. The results of the one-sample t-test indicated that the mean of all components was significantly lower than the criterion mean, indicating an undesirable current status from the students’ perspective. The validated model emphasizes the interdependence between human resources and effective planning and highlights the need for coordinated interventions and continuous evaluation to improve clinical education.