Perception of Learning Environment Among Clinical Year Thai Medical Students in Surat Thani Hospital Under the Collaborative Project to Increase Production of Rural Doctors

Abstract

Background: Appropriate learning environments were associated with better well-being of medical students, resulting in good learning.

Objective: To study perceptions and factors affecting perceptions of the learning environment among clinical year medical students in Surat Thani Hospital, Thailand.

Methods: In a cross-sectional descriptive study, data were collected among 89 medical students (4th - 6th year) from September 1, 2022, to November 30, 2022, using an online questionnaire consisting of the Thai Learning Climate Measure and an open-ended questionnaire.

Results: The response rate was 65.17% of the total medical students. Most participants were female and had a GPA of 3.00 - 3.49. The average score of learning environment perception was 70%. The aspect with the highest score were “colleagues” and “mental support”. The aspect with the lowest scores was “health and stress”. Female 6th-year medical students perceived the learning experience aspect significantly better than males, while other aspects showed no statistically significant difference (P > .05) when comparing gender, school year, and GPA. “Physical environments” and “health and stress” aspects were the areas that need to be improved in clinical years medical students’ perspective.

Conclusions: Most medical students perceived the learning environment positively. Strengths include “teachers”, “colleagues”, “learning experience”, “motivation”, and “mental support” aspects. The “physical environments” and “health and stress” aspects were the areas that need to be improved.