A Study Of Students' Participation In The Processes Of Clinical Medicine Programsaccreditation In China

Being the focus of all medical education programs, the medical students should be in the spotlight in the accreditation of these programs. Students should have the right to give feedbacks on the quality of higher medical education and be provided the opportunities to contribute to the accreditation process.In order to evaluate current students'participation in this process and the attitude of students and teachers toward accreditation, we conducted a survey on students and teachers of Clinical Medicine Programs at Shantou Universtiy Medical College and Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. The survey results indicated that students'participation in the accreditation process was limited. About 1/3 of student respondents were not aware that their medical school was going through the accreditation process and about 2/3 did not know about the site visit of the accreditation team. And more than 60% of the students and the teachers gave high recognition on students'participation and agreed with the feasibility of the specific details of what the students could take part in. What's more, the students had a strong will to paticipate in the accreditation.Efforts should be made to involve the students in the accreditation process. We proposed a variety of ways to encourage student participation in the accreditation process. Ensuring the rights of the students in the accreditation of their medical schools, stimulating the enthusiasm of students'involvement and providing concrete opportunities for students'participation are more effective approaches.