Medical students’ perceptions of their learning environment during a mandatory research project

OBJECTIVES: To explore medical students´ perceptions of their learning environment during a mandatory 20-week scientific research project. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted between 2011 and 2013. A total of 651 medical students were asked to fill in the Clinical Learning Environment, Supervision, and Nurse Teacher (CLES+T) questionnaire, and 439 (mean age 26 years, range 21-40, 60% females) returned the questionnaire, which corresponds to a response rate of 67%. The Mann-Whitney U test or the Kruskal-Wallis test were used to compare the research environments. RESULTS: =20.29, p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: A good research environment for medical students comprises multiple meaningful learning activities, individual supervision with continuous feedback, and a trustful atmosphere including interactions with the whole staff. Students should be advised that clinical projects might require a higher degree of student independence than basic science projects, which are usually performed in research groups where members work in close collaboration.