Perceptions of the educational environment during clinical training among Vietnamese medical students: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Gathering feedback from medical students about their learning environment plays a vital role in improving the quality of medical education. Moreover, no studies in Vietnam have examined the diversity of factors such as mental health and perceived quality of clinical training in relation to perceptions of the educational environment. AIM: We aimed to examine Vietnamese medical doctor students' perceptions of the educational environment and its associated factors. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study using multistage cluster random sampling technique to recruit medical students who were in their clinical training years (4th, 5th, and 6th year) at Hanoi Medical University in Vietnam from November 2015 to January 2016. Students self-reported their demographic characteristics, academic performance, mental health, academic motivation, and perceptions of the educational environment (via The Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM)). The modified Poisson regression models were used to assess the association between potential risk factors and negative perceptions of educational environment (i.e., score ≤ 100/200). RESULTS: Among 484 students enrolled in the study (response rate 77.2%), 87.8% reported positive perception (DREEM score > 100) of medical education environment, with the highest satisfaction for teachers. Senior year status was significantly associated with the negative perception in both sexes, while having self-reported mental health issues (i.e., depression and stress) and no academic motivation were associated with negative perceptions among male students only. Additionally, fulfillment of learning objectives, perceived effectiveness and assessment fairness of clinical training were also important associated factors of students' positive perception of the educational environment. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of medical students in this study expressed overall satisfaction with the learning environment, particularly with their teachers. However, the findings underscore the need for targeted improvements in learning effectiveness, fair assessment, especially for students in senior years, those facing mental health challenges or lacking academic motivation.