MED-NET Conferences 1998, Lille & 1999, Maastricht
Anthology of presentations 6.3.

Medical teaching quality improvement: An assessment exercise

A. Marinoni, A. Morandi, C. Meloni*, WEG** (Pavia, Italy)

Aim

The need of starting a process of evaluation and assessment of educational activities arises after the introduction of deep changes in the curricula of medical studies.

The objective of this presentation is to give an example of students' assessments and of the evaluation of the educational process in Pavia Medical School.

Assessment of student performance

We define two indices in order to evaluate the didactic burden and the performance of students.

Active Students: student who have passed at least one exam during the academic year; it is calculated in percentages in comparison with the number of enrolled students. The mean value of Active Students for Pavia University was 74% for 1997; for the faculty it is 86% and it is the highest of the University.
Equivalent Students: this means the number of ideal students who, taking all exams supposed to be passed by the academic programme, would have a burden on the University equivalent to that actually observed.
The mean value of Equivalent Students for the University was 46 for 1997; a value much higher than the university average has been calculated for the faculty of Medicine (82%).

The probability of taking the degree in six years is 34 %, a very good performance if compared to that of other faculties such as Law, Arts, Economics and Political Sciences where the probability of ending studies in that time is under 5%. We can say that the students' performance is satisfactory.

Quality evaluation

We conducted a study in order to estimated what is the teacher and student satisfaction by using a validated questionnaire: the weighted sum of negative and positive items gives the indicator called Satisfaction Index (SI), ranged between -1 (no satisfaction) and +1 (maximum satisfaction).

Student and teacher satisfaction has the same trend: decreases from the first to the sixth year. The main reason of dissatisfaction is the insufficient practical sessions. This is also confirmed by the clinical skill assessment test carried out on a non-doctors' sample. The level of satisfaction in independent of marks taken in exams.

Post-graduated quality evaluation

81.8% of the sample are employed with a grant and the others have a permanent job. The satisfaction for professional activity is high; the university education is related to a successful job for 36.4% of our sample and the main reason for dissatisfaction on university study is represented by an insufficient professional training.

Acknowledgements

Dott. Rovati and administrative staff of medicine office. Dott.ssa. S.Torre, Dott.ssa D.Tiberti, Mr. P.Pogliani and Mrs. D.Brusamonti.

* Dean of the faculty

** WEG: Bernasconi C, Bijno G, Calligaro A, Cetta G, Dal Canton A, Gigli F, Grassi M, Narinoni A, Meloni C, Morandi A, Paglione M, Rezzani C, Ricevuti G, Scevola D, Varasio E, Zonta A, Allegri M, Angelini C, Bonzano A, Bruno D, Dagnini A, Guerci M, Isotta E, Marinoni B, Oriani E, Pergoletti B

ISBN Number 90.805758.1.X

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