Abstract: Objective To investigate the attitudes and the satisfaction with medical education rituals ( hereinafter called the rituals) among medical students in Guangzhou, so to provide reference to for improving the effectiveness of the rituals.Methods From April to June, 2020, a questionnaire survey and in-depth interview were performed. The questionnaires was distributed to survey 1 309 medical students from three higher medical schools in Guangzhou, 38 medical students and 15 ritual organizers were researched through in-depth interviews. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were used for data analysis.Results It is found that 86.2% (1 129/1 309) of medical students considered the rituals are important or very important; 86.6% (1 133/1 309) of them are willing or very willing to participate in the rituals; There are 81.0% (1 060/1 309) of medical students experienced medical education rituals and 70.5% (747/1 060) were satisfied or very satisfied with the rituals; The top three choices of medical students in the survey on the weakness of the rituals are as follows: formalities by 44.8% (475/1 060), insufficient advance publication by 35.1% (372/1 060), and ignoring the main status of students by 24.8% (263/1 060). The interviews found that the formality of the rituals tended to cause medical students to feel poor; The Somers'd correlation coefficients between medical students' overall satisfaction with rituals and their sense of rituals, sacredness were 0.579 and 0.528, respectively (all P<0.01);while that between medical students' overall satisfaction with rituals and their evoked sense of professional identity, professional belonging, and professional honor were 0.516, 0.510, and 0.499, respectively (all P<0.01).Conclusions Medical students in Guangzhou recognize the importance of medical education rituals and have a high willingness to participate in them, but there is still needs to improve their overall satisfaction with the rituals; the satisfaction with the rituals was positively correlated with both the atmosphere they felt and the positive emotions they evoked. Conducting the rituals can further improve the effect through focusing on students, strengthening advance publicity and creating a favorable rituals atmosphere.

Key words: Medical students, Medical education rituals, Attitude, Satisfaction