Assessment of dental students’ satisfaction of clinical departments in Isfahan dental school

Introduction: Clinical education has a remarkable importance in medical education. Awareness of dentistry students’ view from the educational setting, faculty and nurses will help on developing strategies for qualitative and quantitative improvement of clinical training. This study aimed to assess Isfahan Dental School students’ satisfaction and views or satisfaction of clinical setting, in order to gain insight about its strengths and weaknesses. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, all of students of Isfahan Dental School in one educational year (1388) were asked to fill a questionnaire with 16 standard questions. The questionnaire was about student’s satisfaction from teachers, nurses, equipments 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 t-test. Results: There was a significant statistically difference between the mean score of satisfaction of different departments. Maximum satisfaction in all components was shown in periodontics and orthodontics departments and minimum satisfaction was shown in endodontic and prosthodontics departments. There was a negative correlation between their satisfactions and their final grades, but this correlation was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Results showed that despite significant differences between satisfaction of different clinical departments, students’ satisfaction from different departments is desirable. However, it is suggested to consider in future planning prosthodontics and endodontic departments as a priority.