Validating modified PHEEM questionnaire for measuring educational environment in academic emergency departments.
BACKGROUND
The quality of the educational environment is a key determinant in postgraduate training programs. In order to evaluate and understand this environment a valid and reliable instrument is required. The PHEEM (Postgraduate Hospital Educational Environment Measure) questionnaire is one of the most widely used tools for evaluating the perception of hospital-based residents. The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric quality of the PHEEM in the context of emergency medicine program.


METHODS
This study evaluated the reliability, construct validity and applicability of the Persian version of the PHEEM questionnaire using a sample of emergency medicine residents from 3 emergency medicine residency programs in Iran. Eighty-nine residents were asked to complete the questionnaire and indicate their agreement with each of the 37 statements using a 5-point Likert scale(strongly disagree: 0 to strongly agree: 4). Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated to determine internal consistency. Confirmatory and explanatory factor analyses were performed to assess the construct validity of the original 3 subscales of the questionnaire.


RESULTS
The mean score for the total questionnaire was 2.24 (SD: 0.06). The Cronbach's alpha value was found to be 0.86. Factor analysis did not confirm the original three subscales of the PHEEM questionnaire.


CONCLUSIONS
The Persian version of PHEEM proved a reliable and practical tool for assessing clinical educational environment in emergency medicine departments.
Emergency Medicine Department, Medical Education Department, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. sa_mortazhejri@razi.tums.ac.ir.
Mohammad
M
Jalili
Medical Education Department, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Sara
S
Mortaz Hejri
Emergency Medicine Department, Medical Education Department, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Mina
M
Ghalandari
Community Health Department, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Maziar
M
Moradi-Lakeh
Internal Medicine Department, Medical Education Department, Educational Development Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Azim
A
Mirzazadeh
Center for Medical Education, Dundee University, UK.
Sue
S
Roff
D000046:Academic Medical Centers / Q000592:standards*; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000193:education; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000592:standards*; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires