Teaching and assessment strategies in the obstetrics and gynaecology program: medical students' perceptions...

Worldwide, medical institutions face challenges in maintaining educational quality while accommodating the growing size of student cohorts. Assessment and critical analysis of educational programmes, particularly in the clinical years, are imperative for improving learning outcomes. This study aims to evaluate students' perceptions of the teaching and assessment methods used in the obstetrics and gynaecology programme.

This observational, cross-sectional study was conducted among fourth-year medical students enrolled in the obstetrics and gynaecology programme at the College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh. A total of 300 students were enrolled. An electronically generated questionnaire comprising four sections, including 19 closed questions and five open-ended questions in English, was used. The first section addressed responses on the course guide; the second and third sections evaluated students' perceptions of the various teaching and assessment methods; the fourth section collected generalised responses on students' preferences and suggestions for program improvement. The data were analysed in relation to the GPA of the students involved in the study.

Among the study participants, 46.2% of students were satisfied with the course programme outlines and timings, 34.2% with the clarity of the course objectives, 40.2% with the teaching methods, and 32.6% with the clarity of the assessment tools. The lowest mean agreement scores were recorded for the usefulness of skills lab sessions in achieving clinical objectives. There were significant differences between genders (P < 0.05). The highest percentages of Agree or Strongly Agree responses were for the appropriateness of the assessment tools for each course objective.

This study shows that students were satisfied with the newly introduced teaching and assessment methods. However, student satisfaction rates do not appear to be related to student achievements. Moreover, satisfaction was lower regarding the course guide and the educational and assessment methodologies. The study highlights the need to review the clinical skills laboratory, its educational components, and students' tasks.