Predictors of medical student satisfaction with pre-clinical courses

Although student course evaluations are widely used as important measures of teaching quality, little attention has been paid to understanding what influences student satisfaction with courses. This study aimed to identify predictors of medical student overall satisfaction with pre-clinical courses. Data were collected from course evaluations conducted from 2014 to 2016 on all 38 pre-clinical courses offered in Years 1 and 2 of a four-year medical curriculum at a private medical school in South Korea. The course evaluation questionnaire consisted of 10 items, which addressed three aspects of course design and implementation, that is, effective course implementation, course contents and teaching methods, and appropriateness of learning outcomes, which were rated using a five-point Likert scale. Along with these three domains, teaching ratings and five variables related to the course characteristics were included in a multivariate stepwise regression analysis performed to identify factors predicting overall course satisfaction. A total of 5,347 evaluation surveys were collected from 278 students (response rate of 92.3%). The regression analysis revealed six variables that predicted overall course satisfaction (adjusted r2 = 0.71, p < 0.001). The best predictor was the appropriateness of learning outcomes and this was followed by course contents and teaching methods, effective course implementation, teaching ratings, and the year in the program and the semester of the year in which the course was offered. Our findings highlight the importance of the design and implementation of the course in alignment with the learning outcomes and of clearly communicating them to enhance student satisfaction with quality of the course.