Sammanfattning
BACKGROUND: Medical student research programmes were established in order to recruit a greater number of medical students to research. We sought to investigate what factors influenced whether students completed the programme, and the students’ degree of satisfaction with the supervision they had received.
MATERIAL AND METHOD: All students who had attended the Medical Student Research Programme at the University of Bergen and who had completed their medical degree in the period 2002–June 2017, were contacted by email and invited to participate in an online survey (n = 148).
RESULTS: Out of 148 invitees, 102 (69 %) responded. Of these, 88 (86 %) had completed the research programme. The most commonly cited reason for withdrawing from the programme was that the project was not suitable for medical students. Students who were not satisfied with their supervision had a lower probability of completing the programme (p < 0.05). Students who received regular supervision had a higher probability of completing (p = 0.088).
INTERPRETATION: Good supervision and a suitable research project are important factors for ensuring that students complete the research programme.