Students’ and graduates satisfaction survey result of the “Traditional Medical Therapist” curriculum

Abstract

Background: The Traditional Medical Therapist /TMT/ program is a new program opened in 2016 by the MNUMS of TMT in collaboration with Tokyo Ariake University in Japan. As of April 2023, a total of 52 specialists have graduated in three rounds of the TMT program and 53 students are studying. One of the indicators of the quality of educational services in higher education institutions is student satisfaction, and student satisfaction, in turn, is a guarantee of the quality of care provided by future health professionals. Aim: To assess student satisfaction with traditional medical therapist programs. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted using an analytical survey design. In the survey, a survey card with a combination of open and closed questions was developed, and 20 questionnaires with 5 groups were collected from students studying in Mongolia under the TMT program and 18 questionnaires with 5 groups were collected from graduates. Results: 50 specialists who graduated from the TMT program and 50 students studying under the TMT program were included in the study. The average age of the participants was 22.04±2.24 years, and 17% were male and 83% were female. In the satisfaction questionnaire of traditional medicine healers, 28% answered moderately, 44% fair, and 28% good. The mean value of this indicator was 3.63±0.92. On the other hand, the satisfaction rating of graduates of the traditional medical therapist program was 3.91±0.70. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups (p=0.17). The Likert rating of the overall satisfaction of students and graduates of the traditional medical therapist program was 3.79±0.81, which indicates that the level of satisfaction is above average or satisfactory (p=0.0001). TMT program improved the learning environment of the students, the coherence of the course content was good enough, and the increase in the number of elective courses had a positive effect on the satisfaction of the students and was directly related. Regression analysis showed that there is an inverse relationship between the lack of confidence to directly apply the knowledge learned in the clinic and the high learning load negatively affecting the satisfaction of students. (p=0.032). Conclusion: The satisfaction of students and graduates of the traditional medical therapist program is 3.79±0.81 according to the Likert scale, which indicates that the level of satisfaction is above average or satisfactory (p=0.0001).