DREEM in primary care: students’ perspectives on educational environment of family medicine internship in primary care centres: experiences at Akdeniz University Faculty of Medicine in Turkey

Abstract

ABSTRACTObjective: In many countries, medical education programmes are expanding, and educational environments are starting to change from hospitals to primary health care centres. International organizations for medical education highlight that medical students should also be educated at primary and secondary care centres in addition to third-step health care. In this study, the evaluation of sixth-year (final year) medical students’ perspectives on the educational environment of family medicine internship in primary care is presented, using the Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measurement (DREEM)Material and methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with sixth-year medical students. Starting in the 2017–2018 academic year, sixth-year medical students started to enrol in educational courses in primary care. A total of 223 students completed internships in primary care for a two-week period, during which we applied the Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure (DREEM) to evaluate the educational environment at the end of the internship. The collected questionnaires were analysed by using IBM-SPSS version 23 for Mac OS. Student’s t-test and Mann-Whitney U Test were used for comparisons.Results: Of the 223 students, 192 (86%) completed the questionnaire. The total DREEM score was 138.62/200 (%63.5). The students rated the learning environment as positive. The mean score for students’ perceptions of teaching, students’ perceptions of teachers, students’ academic self-perceptions, students’ perceptions of the atmosphere and students’ social self-perceptions were 31.65/48, 30.45/44, 23.46/32, 34.20/48 and were 18.56/28, respectively. The total mean score and subscale scores were not significantly different between males and females.Conclusion: This study suggests that students’ perception of the global learning environment in primary care was more positive than negative. The lowest scores were recorded for Students’ Perceptions of Learning and Students’ Social Self-Perceptions, and the highest score was recorded for Students’ Academic Self-Perceptions.