Background
The educational environment (EE) represents what is happening within the classroom, departments and even institution. EE includes physical, cognitive, culture, psychological, emotional, educational and motivational factors (Tokuda et al, 2010). EE is a significant indicator to assess success of undergraduate nursing and medical education.(Lizzio, Wilson & Simons 2002) It develop essential skills needs to address challenges. It has a major role in promoting students motivation, critical thinking, independency and self-confidence (Hamid , Farouk, Mohammadhosein, 2013). Comprehensive nursing care is linked with learning environment of nursing students. There is a recognized association between EE and development of learning capabilities of students, performance and their satisfaction (Imanipour, Sadooghiasl, Ghiyasvandian & Hamid, 2015).
Objective: to assess the EE in the nursing school at AKU School of Nursing and Midwifery using the DREEM tool.
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Methods: A cross-sectional study of students with consecutive sampling technique was employed at Aga Khan University School of Nursing and Midwifery (AKUSONAM). The DREEM scores were obtained by merging five subscales of the inventory. The average scores of DREEM scales and subscales were compared between age, year of study and living status using Mann-Whitney U test and among years of study by Kruskal Wallis test.
Results: The average DREEM score was 129.92 ±19.97 with 88.9%. reliability. Complete responses were acquired from 442 nursing students; 131 first year (29.1%), 152 second year (33.8%), 91 third year (20.2%) and 76 fourth year (16.9%). Students aged 20 years and less had more positive perceptions than students more than 20 years (p<0.0001). Hostel nursing student held higher DREEM scores (P<0.0001). First year nursing students got significant highest scores in all subscales as compared to the rest (P < 0.0001).
Conclusion: Nursing students acknowledged a positive Educational Environment . Comparison of DREEM scores revealed better perception from junior nursing students, as well as in the hostel resident and those who were studying in their preliminary years of nursing education.
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