Performance of the 4th Scientific Olympiad of Medical Students of the Universities of Medical Sciences in Iran about Empowerment and Loyalty

Scientific Olympiads are planned to identify creative, innovative, and the most talented students. These competitions create cheerful environments in order to increase the capabilities and motivation of the students. Satisfaction and loyalty of the participants are suitable characteristics to evaluate the efficacy of an Olympiad. This study was performed to evaluate the success rate of the 4th Scientific Olympiad of Medical Students of Iran about empowerment and loyalty in the participants’ viewpoints. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2012-13 on the participants of the 4th Medolympiad of Iran. The research sample was selected by census. Data collection was performed by a researcher-made questionnaire, the validity and reliability of which were confirmed. The data were analyzed using SPSS software at significant level of < 0.05. Among the 320 participants from 4 groups, 62 students (27%) were in the domain of basic science, 50 students (22%) in clinical reasoning, 56 students (24%) in health management, and 61 students (27%) in innovation. The mean score of preparation in the Universities of Medical Sciences was 2.5 ± 1.1 (out of the total score of 5). The 4th Medolympiad gained a score of 3.2 ± 1.1 out of 5 in personal empowerment and 3.7 ± 1.2 out of 5 in loyalty. There was a significant correlation between the level of preparation in Medical Universities and the type of university (P < 0.001). There was a significant correlation between the level of loyalty and the type of university (P < 0.001). Moreover, there was a significant correlation between the level of loyalty and academic degree of students (P = 0.029). The success rate of the 4th Medolympiad in terms of empowerment and loyalty of students was higher than the moderate level; therefore, it is necessary to improve the subsequent periods.