Relationships Between Student Satisfaction, Self-Efficacy, Knowledge and Skills Learnt During Simulation Courses for Medical Students

Abstract Background Simulation-based learning effectively enhances medical knowledge and clinical skills, improves student satisfaction with education and their self-efficacy. Aim To measure student satisfaction, skills and knowledge gains and self-efficacy of medical students and explore the relationships between these different learning outcomes. Methods Our research sample consisted of 292 first-year students in the Slovak and English program of General Medicine. They filled out Satisfaction with Simulation Experience Scale after the simulation course of Biophysics and were later tested on applying newly acquired skills using a behavioral checklist. Their knowledge of Medical Ethics was tested by a test prior to and following the simulation and subsequently analyzed in relation to their scores in the General Self-efficacy Scale. Results Student satisfaction, performance in knowledge tests and behavioral checklists and student self-efficacy were high. Nevertheless, no interrelationships were found between them. Conclusions While high student satisfaction, strong performance in knowledge tests or behavioral checklists and high self-efficacy are valuable indicators of course quality, relying on any single measure is insufficient for a comprehensive evaluation of a course effectivity, as they might not be interrelated.