Medical students' opinions on career planning course: evaluations of the relationship between course and faculty attributes and student characteristics

Objectives The Presidency of the Republic of Turkey Human Resources Office has stated that a Career Planning Course (CPC) should be implemented in higher education curricula by 2020. An institutional CPC consisting of 10-online sessions was designed and implemented in at Ege University Faculty of Medicine (EUFM) curriculum. This study reports the design, implementation, and evaluation of this new CPC at EUFM. Methods A descriptive, cross-sectional research design was used in this study. An online questionnaire (n=253) focusing mainly on Kirkpatrick-model Level 1 was administered to gather students' feedback on CPC as well as perceptions regarding the concept of "Career Planning". Percentage distributions were used for categorical variables and mean +/- standard deviation calculations were used for numerical variables. Student's t-test was used to compare students' characteristics with career planning and important factors, and Pearson correlation test was used to evaluate competency areas with the mean scores of important factors in career planning. Statistical significance level was accepted as pResults The perception of the term "career planning" revealed 12 themes of which "life" was the most common (140/245; 57.1%), followed by "professional life" (102/245; 41.6%). Participants' total satisfaction rate was found 65.6% (Mean=39.36 +/- 14.88) for the course. Students were most satisfied with the goals and content appropriateness (7.77 +/- 3.08). The stimulating and motivating attribute of the CPC was the least satisfactory item. Conclusions An evaluation report, based on students' feedback, was shared with the faculty members involved in education via an interactive web page. The survey not only benefitted course educators but also helped students to reflect on the course content. CPC can help students to address their strengths and weaknesses and hopefully to take supportive initiatives at the beginning of their career.