Evaluating the Quality of the Educational Environment for Medical Interns in an Emergency Department Using the DREEM Inventory

Moving toward establishing more student center educational environment to meet the ever-changing learning expectations in a challenging climate like emergency department for under graduates is an intimidating task. In our newly founded academic emergency department, every step toward scoring as a dynamic and modern educational environment for both undergraduates and postgraduates would be a great success. The last 18 months of undergraduate medical education in Iran is considered as an internship. Interns have two months mandatory emergency department rotation during that period. This study has design to evaluate the medical students’ conception about the educational environment using the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) questionnaire. 156 undergraduate interns during their two months emergency medicine rotation from October 2009 to March 2010 enrolled into a cross sectional observational study to anonymously fill up the DREEM questionnaire on the last week of the course. The overall mean score of DREEM questionnaire was 134.79 out of 200 for the emergency department. The mean scores are 135.37 in female (n=87) group and 131.56 in male (n=69) group. There was not any significant difference between two genders (P>0.05). A score of 134.79 is compatible with the modern universities. Scores of 100 or less indicate serious problems and scores above 170 is compatible with ultimate student centered and modern educational environment. Such an achievement in the start of the new installed Emergency Medicine program is admirable, hence great effort must be put to pinpoint problems and fix them. DREEM questionnaire helped us moving toward a more student center environment in the emergency department.