Assessing the learning environment at Jazan medical school of Saudi Arabia

Background: Student's perceptions of educational environment significantly impacts their academic progress and sense of wellbeing. In the backdrop of changing medical education trends in Saudi-Arabia, with a shift from traditional to innovative curricula and federal emphasis on women in higher education; we wished to objectively assess whether the learning environment of a newly established 'all female' medical section was of acceptable standards according to perceptions of students. Aim: To assess pedagogical environment using DREEM's inventory in order to elucidate program strengths/weaknesses and promote conductive learning. Results: Our Mean DREEM score (96.57/200) was lower than scores of most medical institutions in Saudi-Arabia as well as other countries. Seniors were more stressed than juniors, with poor social support systems. Teachers were generally viewed as knowledgeable but authoritarian. Significant differences (p<0.05) existed in teaching and social domains among 2nd and 3rd level students. Conclusion: Undeniably, educational lapses exist in our female medical section. Reflective analysis of significant DREEM sub-domains can provide insights into problem areas for understanding behaviors and designing remedial strategies. Poor scores despite excellent physical infrastructure and facilities hint that we need to focus on our human resources and policy models if we hope to achieve quality in environments and uniformity in standards.