title: Evaluation of hospital-learning environment for pediatric residency in eastern region of Saudi Arabia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  No study had been conducted to assess the hospitals' environment for learning purposes in multicenter sites in Saudi Arabia. It aims to evaluate the environment of hospitals for learning purposes of pediatric residents.
  
  
  METHODS
  We applied Postgraduate Hospital Educational Environment Measure (PHEEM) to measure the learning environment at six teaching hospitals in the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia from September to December 2013.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The number of respondents was 104 (86.7%) out of 120 residents and 37 females and 67 male residents have responded. The residents' response scored 100 out of 160 maximum score in rating of PHEEM that showed overall learning environment is favorable for training. There were some items in the social support domain suggesting improvements. There was no significant difference between male and female residents. There was a difference among the participant teaching hospitals (p<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The result pointed an overall positive rating. Individual item scores suggested that their social life during residency could be uninspiring. They have the low satisfactory level and they feel racism, and sexual discrimination. Therefore, there is still a room for improvement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, King Faisal University, AlHsa, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Waleed H
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4210-2908
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: BuAli
authors.affiliation: Department of Family & Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Faisal University, AlHsa, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Abdul Sattar
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4057-8053
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Dammam, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Mohammad Hussain
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-2655-7459
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Al-Qahtani
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, King Faisal University, AlHsa, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Shaikha
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-7229-5635
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aldossary
keywords: Internship and Residency; Learning; Pediatrics; Saudi Arabia; Social Support; Teaching hospitals