The Educational Environment of Main Clinical Wards in Educational Hospitals of the Alborz University of Medical Sciences

There is an obvious relationship between learning environment and valuable outcomes such as satisfaction and student success. It is necessary to identify and strengthen the weaknesses of the learning environment, to improve the quality of learning. The aim of the present study was to assess the medical student’s views on the educational environment of Alborz University of Medical Sciences in 1396.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 27 medical students in four internal wards, pediatrics, gynecology and general surgery in four university-affiliated teaching hospitals. The research tool was a 50-item DREEM (Dundee Ready Education Environment) questionnaire in five areas of student perception of learning, student perception of professors, student perception of their scientific ability, student perception of educational atmosphere, student perception of their social conditions. The data were analyzed by SPSS software version 16.

In this study, the mean age of participants was 25.4±0.7 years. The average score in the five domains was 93.8±28.9 out of a maximum of 200 points. The mean score of learning area was 22.8±9.6, clinical professors 23.8±9.4, perception of their scientific ability was 15.7±8.2, educational atmosphere was 21.3±9.9 and their social conditions were 11.1±4.2. The mean score of clinical education situation was significantly different in different wards (P=0.003).

The viewpoint of university medical students about the situation of clinical education environment was in the semi-optimal range. Some wards such as internal ward need more attention from University administrators and officials.