EVALUATION OF LEARNING ENVIRONMENT IN FIRST TWO YEARS AT WAH MEDICAL COLLEGE

Background: The recent trends of assembling student friendly health professional education systems have stirred the need of continuous scientific monitoring of the teaching institutions. Current study was planned to evaluate the perception of learning environment by the medical students of Wah Medical College, Wah Cantt and to assess the effect of gender and academic year on this observation. Methods: It was a cross sectional comparative study carried out at Wah Medical College, Wah Cantt, Pakistan from Jan–Dec 2016. Data collection tool was the ‘Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure’ (DREEM) questionnaire that was given after consent to 200 students of 1st and 2nd year MBBS. Data was analysed using SPSS, and p≤0.05 was considered significant. Results: Out of total 200 students, 163 retorted (response rate= 81.5%). According to the students the overall DREEM scores were towards positivity (total score 115.28±19.17). When the sub-scores were compared on the basis of gender discrimination we found that all the scores were equal except the ‘students perception of teaching’ which was significantly rated better (p=0.006) by the female students. Among all the sub-scores the students’ perception about the atmosphere of learning at WMC was greatest (31–38/48) which depicts an awesome atmosphere for the fresh medicos. Overall, total DREEM score when compared with gender was not statistically significant among male and female students (p>0.05). Total DREEM score was statistically similar between the students of 1st and 2nd years (p>0.05). However, the sub themes of perception of students about teachers and atmosphere were rated better by 1st year students as compared to the students of 2nd year (p=0.03 and 0.001 respectively) Whereas academic self-perception was rated significantly higher by the students of 2nd year (p=0.03) Conclusion: The medical students of first two years at Wah Medical College enjoy a healthy educational environment. Most students feel confident about their growth and social well-being. The institutional atmosphere, self-learning and co-operation from teachers is also rated excellent by the young medical undergraduates. Pak J Physiol 2017;13(4):41–4