Abstract:

Objective: The purposes of this study was to compare the higher education expectation of first year medical and dental students at a private medical institution from Romania and 2) to determine if these expectations are different when compared with last year medical students.
Methodology: Part 1 from the Learning and Studying Questionnaire: “What do you expect to get from the experience of higher education?” was selected to examine “Titu Maiorescu” University students’ beliefs and preferences.
Results: First year medical students scored statistically significantly higher than first year dental students on Lack of purpose (47.62 Vs. 35.50, P<0.05) and lower on question regarding Social and personal reasons subscale: “I hope the whole experience here will make me more independent and self-confident” (39.65 vs. 54.21, P=0.007). Last year medical students scored statistically significantly higher than first year medical students on the Social and personal reasons scale and his subscale, previous mentioned (49.93 vs. 38.60, P=0.05, respectively 50.10 vs. 38.54, P<0.05). Female students scored statistically significantly higher than male students on the Intrinsec subscale: “I want to learn things which might let me help people, and/or make a difference in the world” (48.99 vs. 58.15, P<0.05) and on the Social and personal reasons subscale: “I’m focused on the opportunities here for an active social life and/or sport.”(59.16 vs. 51.42, P<0.05). No changes were identified according to the participants’ age.
Conclusion: It is important for teachers from higher education to understand medical students' perceptions and expectations of medicine and doctors and to further investigate the role of the medical curriculum in the conflict between these perceptions and expectations and the offer of the educational institution.