Evaluating Medical Students Perception of Educational Environment in Lahore using the DREEM Inventory: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND Educational environment is addressed as the holistic set of events occurring in a learning space within a college or university, including classrooms, lecture theaters, departments and wards, and is essential for academic success. Evaluating educational environment is a modern way of identifying areas of improvement within the medical curriculum and student-teacher relationships. The study aimed to evaluate educational environment among MBBS students using advanced questionnaires and quantitative analysis, to identify weaknesses and suggest changes to curricula in academic medical settings in Lahore, Pakistan. METHODS The study type was cross sectional.It was conducted on 81 students .They are studying in King Edward Medical Universit (KEMU) , and Allama Iqbal Medical College(AIMC), Lahore, during their educational period of 2024. The pre-validated and reliable DREEM questionnaire was used, and . The sampling technique was non-probability used for participants in research work. RESULTS The total mean score was 75.75% by using DREEM inventory (151.50 ± 12.69). Mean scores as percentage of the total available score per subscale for the university MBBS students. In the sub-scale, 30.50 ± 5.90 was the mean score of learning preception (63.5%), 45.50 ± 5.80 for teachers preception (77.2%), 27.25 ± 3.32 for self-perception of academic (85.1%), 28.00 ± 6.20 for atmospheric preception (58.3%), and 20.25 ± 5.80 for self-perceptions of social (72.3%). CONCLUSIONStudents of KEMU and AIMC consider the educational environment to be generally good and conducive to learning. However, students’ perceptions of teachers and social self-perceptions are the two subscales that required significant improvement to enhance the overall experience. KEYWORDS: Medical Education, Student-Teacher Relationships, Student Perceptions, Environment of Medical Universities, Pakistan