Student satisfaction with initiatives for the national examination during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Akira Kubo, Ko Onoda, Akihiro Yakabi
PMID 34776622WHAT IT FOUND
Fourth-year physical therapy students graduating in 2021 reported higher satisfaction with exam preparation initiatives and with the frequency of mock exams than 2019 and 2020 graduates.
Their mock exam scores were similar.
Key findings
01The 2021 COVID group was significantly more satisfied with the department’s initiatives toward the national examination and with the frequency of mock examinations than the non-COVID group.
02Median satisfaction with department initiatives was 71 points in the COVID group and 57 points in the non-COVID group; median frequency of mock examinations was 72 points and 67 points.
03Median mock examination scores were 57 points in the COVID group and 56 points in the non-COVID group.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study compared different graduating cohorts from one campus, so differences may not apply to other programmes. Satisfaction was measured with a 100-mm visual analog scale and no specific explanations were given, so the result is subjective. The paper says one student was excluded but still reports group counts of 88 and 169, so the analysed sample is unclear. The study did not test the department’s initiatives as an intervention or measure whether they caused the higher satisfaction. The paper does not report which of the three surveyed items was the primary outcome.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that pandemic-era initiatives improved competence or examination outcomes. The study only compared student satisfaction ratings across cohorts, and mock examination scores were similar.