Evaluation of Students' Satisfaction from Clinical Departments of Babol Dental School (2012-13)

Background: Awareness of dental students’ views from the clinical departments will help on developing strategies for qualitative and quantitative improvement of clinical skills. The purpose of this study was an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the clinical departments of Babol dental school, from students' views point, to provide feedback for improving of clinical skills training. . Methods: In a cross-sectional study, all of dental students of Babol dental school in one educational year (1390-91) were asked to fill a questionnaire with 16 standard questions. The questionnaire was about student’s satisfaction from teachers, nurses, equipment and facilities of clinical setting, student’s self-steams and satisfaction of their action in clinical practices. The data was analyzed by SPSS software using descriptive statistics, ANOVA and Chi-square. Results: There was significant difference between students' satisfaction from different departments.  The lowest satisfaction scores were obtained from the Department of Orthodontics and Radiology While there was no significant difference between the other departments. The results showed that the overall satisfaction scores were obtained for the different sections (acquisition of over half of the score), satisfaction of students from different departments was relatively favorable. Conclusion: Results showed that despite the differences between the different departments, students' satisfaction level was relatively appropriate. Nevertheless, the present situation can be improved by upgrading the facilities of some departments and creating confidence in students for treatment of patients during dental education.