Satisfaction and perceptions of medical students about a curricular strategy for competency training in scientific research

Abstract

Medical schools have implemented curricular strategies to develop research competencies. In Latin America, few studies have evaluated the acquisition of research skills within a curricular framework. Objective. To describe the satisfaction and perceptions of medical students at a private university in Lima, Peru, who are undergoing a curricular strategy focused on developing research competencies. Methods. We conducted a cross-sectional study using a self-administered online questionnaire. The strategy includes two components: research-oriented teaching and research-based teaching. The satisfaction was measured using a 10-point scale, and perceptions were evaluated using a Likert Scale. We measured the final scores of the items and compared them.  Results. We included 273 students. For the research-oriented component, the median overall satisfaction was 7 in the first two courses and 8 in the last three.  Overall satisfaction in the research-based courses ranged from 5 for clinical medicine to 9 for parasitology. There was a trend of higher perception scores (more favorable) with higher academic years (K = 14,3; p = 0,007) in the research-oriented component. In the research-based component, the epidemiology course had the highest median score, while no differences were found between Thesis I and II.  Conclusions. In theoretical courses, satisfaction and perception improve with higher academic years. However, in courses that develop a research product, students' reactions were heterogeneous.