Table 1.
Demographic Characteristics of 99,559 Participants at 90 Medical Schools compared with national medical student demographics, from Chinese Medical Student Survey a and China Working Committee for the Accreditation of Medical Education (WCAME) b
| Participants, no (%) | Nationally, % | |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | ||
| Female | 60,815 (61.1) | 55.0a |
| Male | 38,744 (38.9) | 45.0a |
| Learning Phases | ||
| General education | 14,774 (14.8) | – |
| Basic medical education | 43,026 (43.2) | – |
| Clinical medical education | 30,869 (31.01) | – |
| Clerkship rotation | 10,890 (11.0) | – |
| Student location c | ||
| Rural | 41,538 (41.7) | 36.9a |
| Urban | 58,021 (58.3) | 63.1a |
| Academic performance | ||
| Top 25% | 36,440 (36.6) | – |
| 25–50% | 35,687 (35.8) | – |
| 50–75% | 21,112 (21.2) | – |
| Bottom 25% | 63, 20 (6.4) | – |
| PU regarding online learning based on prior experience | ||
| Not Useful | 68,421 (69.6) | – |
| Useful | 31,138 (31.4) | – |
| Medical school type d | ||
| Free-standing | 58,982 (59.2) | 61.6b |
| Comprehensive | 40,577 (40.78) | 38.4b |
| Region | ||
| East | 38,134 (38.3) | 38.9b |
| Middle | 41,341 (41.5) | 35.8b |
| West | 20,084 (20.2) | 25.4b |
Abbreviation: PU perceived usefulness
a Data Source: 2019 China Medical Student Survey (CMSS), conduct by National Centre for Health Professionals Education Development (NCHPED), authorized by Ministry of Education (MOE) and National Health Commission (NHC) [38]
b Data Source: surveillance data from Higher Education Evaluation Center of MOE in 2018, medical portion provided to NCHPED. Certain national data are unavailable to the public
c China is of typical “urban-rural dual structure”, and we asked the survey participants to select this information based on their permanent residency record. While the outbreak of COVID-19 in China was around the time of Spring Festival, the survey participants are in their home area, and since the travel ban, they had to carry out online learning at home when medical universities resumed learning with online approaches
d Free-stand medical school and medical school in comprehensive universities are the types available in China [39]