Objective: This study was conducted to establish a baseline DREEM score for a Pakistani private dental college and a private dental college of Turkey, to compare the educational environment as perceived by the dental students of the two institutes and provide insight into the aspects of dental education that are in need of improvement.
Methodology: Its a cross- sectional, questionnaire based study conducted at Bahria University Medical and Dental College, Karachi (BUMDC) and a private dental college of Istanbul, Turkey between December 2018 and March 2019. The Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure was filled out by first, second and third year undergraduate dental students at both the institutes
Results: Global DREEM mean score of the two institutes was 116.6 ± 20.7. The overall DREEM score of Bahria University was 119.3 ±24.3 while of Turkish dental institute was 113.8±.16.1, with p-value = 0.000. Institutional DREEM depicts a student perception that is predominantly positive. In both the institutes, the perception regarding the social atmosphere (SSSP) scored lowest as compared to all other domains.
Conclusion: Over all the educational environment at both the institutes is satisfactory however this study has highlighted a need for reforms to improve the social and teaching atmosphere. Despite the overall positive trend, the institutes have yet to achieve excellent status for educational environment. One can learn from the Turkish university in terms of how the social atmosphere can be improved, while the Turkish dental college can benefit by implementing a more student centered teaching methodology.
Key words: DREEM, Educational environment, dental students, perception, Pakistan
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