What Makes Clinical Clerkships Satisfying?

The Students' Point of View

Abstract

To determine what aspects of the educational environment during clinical clerkships are considered important by medical students, we designed a questionnaire and performed a survey. The questionnaires were distributed to 5th- and 6th-year medical students at the University of the Ryukyus. The response rates were 78.1% and 100%, respectively. In addition to the students' motivation, the following factors were suggested to be important: a clear role as a member of a team, interaction with enthusiastic attending physicians to improve their medical knowledge and skills, the affability of attending physicians and other departmental staff, and a sincere attitude of attending physicians, such as introducing students to patients. Despite the different periods of exposure to clinical practice between 5th- and 6th-year students, their responses to the questionnaire did not differ significantly.