Students' Perceptions of the Educational Environment of a Private Medical College in the post COVID - 19 ERA

Abstract

Introduction: COVID - 19 and its associated lockdowns caused a major disruption in the education sector leading to closure of educational institutes globally. After two years of intermittently on and off campus education, 2022 finally brought some semblance of normalcy back in terms of on campus education. In the (almost) post COVID era, it is more important than ever to measure students' perceptions of the educational environment.
Objective: To measure the students' perceptions of the educational environment of a medical school, and to identify specific problem areas.
Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted at University College of Medicine and Dentistry, The University of Lahore from May 2022 until September 2022 using HELES Proforma, which is a pre-validated questionnaire. Data was collected from 605 undergraduate medical students of all five years of MBBS. Results were analyzed using SPSS v23.
Results: A total of 605 undergraduate medical students participated in the study out of which 58.84% were females. The overall mean score was 3.51 (± 0.63 SD). The highest mean score (3.71 ± 0.73 SD) was attributed to the subscale of “Educational settings and Resources” while the lowest mean score (2.87 ± 1.06 SD) was attributed to the “Clinical Skill and Development” subscale.
Conclusion: The perception of students regarding the educational environment was more positive than negative. However, as expected post COVID, students require more opportunities to work with patients and develop clinical skills.
Keywords: Educational environment, Medical students, Perception, HELES.