Abstract:

The educational climate (EC) is defined as any perception about learning that can influence the motivation of students to learn. The Dundee Ready Educational Environment (DREEM) survey has been widely used over the past two decades to assess the EC. The DREEM questionnaire consists of 50 questions in a 5 points Likert scale. It groups five specific areas or domains on the perception of:
i) teaching,
ii) teachers,
iii) learning,
iv) educational environment and
v) social environment.

Objective:
To compare the overall evaluation of the EC among the students of the different years at our Institution.
Methods: An adapted version of the DREEM questionnaire was filled in by 584 students from 1st to 6th years (46% of the total amount of medical students enrolled at that time).

Results:
Participation was higher in 1st, 2nd and 6th years (about 20% of participants in each year), falling in 3rd, 4th and 5th years (17%, 13% and 10% respectively). The overall EC score from first to sixth years was successively 139.1±17.9; 124.8±16.2; 127.8±13.9; 127.6±16.4; 120.3±16.0 y 117.9±16.8 points (maximum 200).

Conclusions:
1) Our EC had more positive than negative aspects (>50%). However, based on DREEM's practical guide [AMEE Medical Education Guide. 2001 (23): 29-33], our results were in the range of "educational aspects that can be improved" (50-75%);
2) these results showed trends; the EC appeared to be better in the early (preclinical) years as compared to the more advanced (clinical) ones.

Keywords:

educational climate, social environmental, educational environment.