title: The educational environment of the undergraduate medical curriculum at Kuwait University.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Educational environment of an institution affects the quality of learning. We aim to assess the educational environment of the undergraduate curriculum of Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University (FOMKU).
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was carried out during April 2014. The validated Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) questionnaire was e-mailed to 607 students. Mean scores of the main domains of the questionnaire, and for each item, were calculated, and their association with the students' background information was measured using Student's t-test (P-value of ≤0.05 was considered as the cut-off level of significance).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 607 students, 117 (19.3%) completed the questionnaire. The total mean score for DREEM was 108.7/200 (54.3%). The mean score for students' perception of teaching, perception of teachers, academic self-perception, perception of atmosphere, and social self-perception were 25.2/48 (52.5%), 24.6/44 (55.9%), 18.4/32 (57.5%), 26.2/48 (54.5%), and 14.3/28 (51.0%), respectively. The highest mean score for an item of DREEM questionnaire was for "my accommodation is pleasant" (3.48±0.75), while the lowest was for "there is a good support system for students who get stressed" (0.88±0.86). The total mean score was not significantly different between the two phases of the curriculum, or among males and females; however, few significant differences among the main domains and items were noted.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on the learners' perspectives, the educational environment of FOMKU, was suboptimal. Medical educators in Kuwait should improve this environment in order to advance the quality of the delivered curriculum.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Al-Amiri Hospital, Kuwait City, Kuwait.
authors.forename: Jumanah
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Karim
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital, Kuwait City, Kuwait.
authors.forename: Becher
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Al-Halabi
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Al-Razi Orthopaedic Hospital, Kuwait City, Kuwait.
authors.forename: Yousef
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Marwan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Al-Adan Hospital, Kuwait City, Kuwait.
authors.forename: Hussain
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sadeq
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Health Sciences Center, Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait.
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dawas
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Health Sciences Center, Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait.
authors.forename: Dalia
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Al-Abdulrazzaq
keywords: environment; learning; medical education; medical students; teaching; undergraduate