Use of quality circles among first year medical students and impact on student satisfaction

Quality circles in the classroom setting are composed of students who meet regularly to identify, analyse and solve problems related to a course, and implement solutions. We recently instituted quality circles (QCs) among preclinical medical students and evaluated their impact on quality of learning and student satisfaction. Included in the study were all 135 first-year medical students of Trakya University School of Medicine in the 2000-2001 academic year. Six students were selected randomly out of 26 volunteers as circle members. Circle participants met once a week for 14 45-minute sessions to discuss educational issues, propose solutions and prepare a report for submission to the dean. A questionnaire was administered to all first-year students and the replies provided the problem pool from which the QC chose the problem to be addressed. A total of 22 problems concerned education and 28 were identified in the fields of accommodation, social activities and other issues. To evaluate the change in the perceived quality of learning, circle members prepared a questionnaire designed to compare satisfaction at the beginning and end of the study period. This questionnaire was composed of 26 items and evaluated various aspects of education. There was a significant increase in student satisfaction after the one-year study period (p = 0.001). In addition to enhancing quality of learning, quality circles improved student satisfaction as well. More studies should be conducted to test the impact of QCs on education in different settings and different classes. Our results show that the use of quality circles in first-year medical students improves quality of learning and student satisfaction.