---

Background: Nowadays, hepatitis C virus (HCV) is one of the major health problems in Iran and the world. Since HCV treatment is costly and affects the patient’s life, in this study we decided to assess the cost of hepatitis C treatment.
Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, we studied 248 medical records of hepatitis C patients who admitted in hepatitis clinic related to Baqiyatallah Research Center for Gastroenterology and Liver diseases between 2006 and 2010. We estimated the direct medical costs of hepatitis C with these data which extracted from medical records of HCV patients. Also the mean direct medical costs were calculated to achieve sustain viral response (SVR).
Results: Mean direct medical costs for the courses treated with conventional interferon-ribavirin (INF-RBV) were 11,544,061 Rial and 66,430,152 Rial for peg-interferon plus ribavirin (PEG-RBV) courses. There was an increase of the direct costs in both courses of treatment in order to achieve SVR. The costs amounted to 26,407,040 Rial in INF-RBV treatment and 112,993,343 Rial in PEG-RBV.
Conclusion: Treatment of hepatitis C is very costly. Screening and effective interventions in care and management of affected patients can delay complications, decrease the treatment course and the costs of treatment, and also relief patient distress and improve their quality of life.

---

Background: Today, the development of critical thinking is considered an expected outcome of graduate studies. This study was designed to determine the critical thinking skills of students of Shahid Beheshti and Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

Materials and methods: In a descriptive study, evaluated critical thinking skills of 60 medical students of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and 60 medical students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, after completing internship. Data was gathered using California standard test of critical thinking skills (form B) which was run officially. The data was analyzed by SPSS software using T-test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficient.

Results: The mean and standard deviation of critical thinking scores for medical students of Shahid Beheshti and Tehran University were 13.03 ± 5.08 and 12.63 ±3.27, respectively (p>0.05). There was no significant relationship between the ranks in University entrance exam and total score of critical thinking. Among domains of critical thinking, there was just significant relationship between the domains of deductive reasoning and diploma grade, with a relatively low correlation in medical students.

Conclusion: The mean scores of critical thinking skill in this research was similar to scores of some survey in our country, but were lower than other countries. This means that the educational program cannot promote critical thinking skills in University and revising the curriculum seems necessary.

Keywords: Critical thinking skills, Medical student, Rank of University entrance exam, Diploma grade.