The Educational Environment in a New Medical School Compared With an Old International School

Abstract

Background: The Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure (DREEM) is used to measure the medical educational environment. This study aimed to assess students' perceptions of the edu­cational environment in Medical College, University of Hail using the DREEM. The hypothesis was that both strengths and weak­nesses would be identified. Methods: The DREEM was administered to students in all year's levels of the medical school, University of Hail. The data were collected and compared with Dundee University medical school. Result: A total of 150 (66.70%) completely responded to the 50 statements. They were 72.3% male and 61.1% female students. The overall mean score of this study was 110.79 which indicates that students in medical school had positive perceptions toward their educational environment. Conclusion: The DREEM is a valuable tool to assess the educational environment for newly developed medical school compared with well-developed health institutions to give a clear indication of the priorities for reform of the curriculum. The students in medical school, University of Hail had positive perceptions toward their educational environment. At the same time improvement is required across all domains of the educational environment at this institution especially in the subscales of Students’ academic self-perception and Students’ social self-perception.