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The present work aims to uncover students\u2019 major determinants of satisfaction and how they interfere with their future elective choices in order to identify the best approach to implement electives in medical curricula.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n<jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>A cross-sectional study was conducted through a written evaluation survey concerning the electives available in the academic year 2015\u20132016. Our institution provides 106 electives to students from the 2<jats:sup>nd<\/jats:sup> to the 5<jats:sup>th<\/jats:sup> year. Students\u2019 satisfaction was assessed through a validated questionnaire with eight sentences expressing opinions related to electives global satisfaction. Data from 538 inquiries from 229 students were analyzed quantitatively using regression and correlation models, and qualitatively through phenomenography.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n<jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Quantitative analysis of the questionnaires allowed to establish both: 1) The determinants of students\u2019 satisfaction with electives, which were <jats:italic>Agreement with teaching and learning methodologies,<\/jats:italic> followed by <jats:italic>Agreement with assessment methodologies employed<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Perception of the workload demanded<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Requirement for continuous work<\/jats:italic> and 2) The predictors of students preferences in the following years, namely, <jats:italic>Agreement with assessment methodologies employed<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Classes attendance<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Ranking of the allocated elective established in the previous year<\/jats:italic>. Qualitative analysis of questionnaires revealed that students consider electives as being innovative and interesting, claiming that some, for their relevant content, could be integrated into the medical core curriculum.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n<jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Our work raises awareness on the best practices when it comes to electives\u2019 organization to meet students\u2019 satisfaction. We can conclude that medical schools should measure students satisfaction as a tool to organize and predict future needs of electives and placements when designing and implementing this alternative student-centred curriculum or even to improve the existing practices regarding electives in medical courses.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s12909-020-02269-0","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,23]],"date-time":"2020-11-23T10:03:55Z","timestamp":1606125835000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":36,"title":["Electives in the medical curriculum \u2013 an opportunity to achieve students\u2019 satisfaction?"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7968-8706","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ana Rita","family":"Ramalho","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"given":"P. 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No personal information was collected. Consent obtained from study participants was verbal. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of Centro Hospitalar Universit\u00e1rio S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o\/Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto (FMUP).","order":1,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Ethics approval and consent to participate"}},{"value":"Not applicable.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Consent for publication"}},{"value":"The authors declare that they have no competing interests.","order":3,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests"}}],"article-number":"449"}}