A study to assess the perception of the medical education environment among first year medical students

• Author Details:   
• Satish S. Patil
• Roopa S. Mathapathi

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Introduction: Students’ perception of their educational environment has shown to have an impact on their academics as well as on their behaviour. Also there is a need to evaluate the perceptions of the medical educational environment as part of any assessment of quality standards for education. The study was undertaken to assess the perceptions of medical education environment among first year medical students, so as to improve the quality of medical education.
Materials and Method: Study conducted in the Department of Physiology, in a private medical college in Kalaburagi. First year students of MBBS 2015-2016 batch were included in the study. The Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) questionnaire was administered to the students after they were briefed about the purpose of the study and about the questionnaire in detail. DREEM questionnaire consists of 50 statements concerning a range of topics relevant to the educational environment. The students were asked to respond to each statement using a 5 point Likert scale.
Results: The results obtained under various domains of DREEM subscale scores are as follows: Students Perception of Learning (SPoL): A more positive approach (mean score 29.91). Students Perception of Teachers (SPoT): Model teachers (mean score 27.07).Students Academic Self-Perception (SASP): Feeling more on positive side (mean score 21.12). Students Perception of Atmosphere (SPoA): A more positive environment (mean score 28.37). Students Social Self-Perception (SASP): Not too bad (mean score 17.12).
Conclusion: The study showed that first-year MBBSstudents positively perceived their learning environment. This study also provides guidelines for further improvement of educational environment.

Keywords: Medical Education Environment, DREEM