"DREEM" comes true - Students′ perceptions of educational environment in an Indian medical school

Abstract

The accomplishment and contentment of students depends upon their educational environment. Very few studies in India have looked at the impact of educational environment on students, there are few such studies in our country despite having a large number of medical schools. This study was performed to assess the undergraduate students' perceptions of medical education in general and educational environment in our medical school in particular. The Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM), a validated inventory was distributed among undergraduate students in final Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) (2010-2011) and students who were undergoing internship (2010-2011) and various scores were calculated and the means were compared using Mann-Whitney test. The mean total DREEM score was found to be 121.5/200 for final MBBS students (n = 115) and 118.4/200 (n = 109) for the internship batch students. There was no statistically significant difference between the scores of the two batches. The overall DREEM score for our Medical School during the academic year 2010-2011 (for the final MBBS and internship batch) was 120/200 (n = 224), which showed that the students' perceptions were more positive. The study showed that the students' perception of the educational environment was positive. There was no statistically significant difference between the scores of the two batches (final MBBS and internship). This study helped us to introspect and identify remediable areas in the educational environment of our medical school and hence we could suggest some measures to modify them.