Abstract:
Health science graduate programmes have recently been established to fill gaps in the health care
system by producing health care professionals. These graduates are produced providing wide range of
opportunities and inculcating the employability skills for them to find an appropriate job, engage in it
effectively and proceed in the future careers effectively. To evaluate the satisfaction of Allied Health
Science (AHS) graduates on the opportunities and employability skills they received during the
undergraduate period. A descriptive cross-sectional survey was carried out after obtaining ethical
clearance from the Ethics Review Committee of the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences. The
satisfaction on opportunities and employability skills received during the undergraduate period were
obtained using a pretested questionnaire set on a Google form with five-point Likert scale to answer. It
was distributed among all the graduates of the 1
st to 4th batches of each degree programme. The data
were analyzed with descriptive statistics and Pearson‟s chi-square test using SPSS.25 version. Only 76
graduates responded. Of respondents, 12 (15.8%) were BSc Medical Laboratory Science (MLS)
graduates, 48 (63.2%) were BSc Nursing graduates and 16 (21.1%) were B Pharmacy graduates. The
majority (>70%) of the graduates highly satisfied about the knowledge and clinical/laboratory training
they received. Majority of the graduates highly satisfied with all the skills while >90% satisfaction
with the skills such as communication (90.8%), time management (90.8%), research (90.8%),
teamwork (93.4%) and ethical awareness and responsibility (94.7%). Comparatively lower satisfaction
(<60%) was observed for motivational, time management, and anger management skills. Furthermore,
satisfaction on the skills; ethical awareness (p=0.005) (nursing; 100%, MLS; 75% and pharmacy
93.8%) and time management (p=0.005) (nursing; 93.8%, MLS; 75% and pharmacy 93.8%) were
significantly associated with the degree programme demonstrating different satisfaction among the
degree programmes. Majority of the AHS graduates of the University of Ruhuna highly satisfied with
the opportunities and employability skills they received during their undergraduate period. The study
findings will help to enhance the outcome of graduates of degree programmes and further investigation
with serial graduates or alumni satisfaction surveys are recommended.
