Investigating the effect of teaching assistants (TA) on the level of satisfaction of undergraduate anesthesia students with training in the internship unit.

Background: Clinical training in the internship unit is the heart of professional training, and teaching assistants can be considered an essential component in the clinical training program. Therefore the present study was conducted to investigate the effect of teaching assistants (TA) on the degree of satisfaction of undergraduate students of Anesthesia with training in the internship unit.

Materials and methods: This descriptive-cross-sectional study was conducted in 2023. The sample of the research was the Anesthesia undergraduate students who were included by census method. First, a questionnaire was designed and psychometric to check the level of satisfaction (ICC = 0.992). then it was given to students who had completed at least 1 unit of internship with TAs. The results were analyzed with SPSS software Version 22 and one-way-ANOVA and independent t-statistical tests (P Value <0.05).

Results: A total of 60 questionnaires were completed and analyzed. Among them, 39 were female students and 21 were male students who were studying in the 4^th, 6^th, and 8^th semesters. the level of satisfaction of Anesthesia students with training by teaching assistants is at a favorable level with an average of 61.06. There was no statistically significant difference between the variables of gender and academic semester with the degree of satisfaction. 6^th-semester students had the highest level of satisfaction with an average satisfaction of 61.63.

Conclusion: According to the results, Anesthesia undergraduate students are satisfied with the clinical training by TAs, at a favorable and high level. Therefore it is recommended that teaching assistants in education be used to improve students' satisfaction and learning levels.