Student perception of the educational environment in regular and bridging nursing programs in Saudi Arabia using the Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure

BACKGROUND: Taibah University offers regular nursing (RNP) and nursing bridging (NBP) bachelor programs. We evaluated student perception of the learning environment as one means of quality assurance. OBJECTIVES: To assess nursing student perception of their educational environment, to compare the perceptions of regular and bridging students, and to compare the perceptions of students in the old and new curricula. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: College of Nursing at Taibah University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure (DREEM) instrument was distributed to over 714 nursing students to assess perception of the educational environment. Independent samples t test and Pearson’s chi square were used to compare the programs and curricula. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The DREEM inventory score. RESULTS: Of 714 students, 271 (38%) were RNP students and 443 (62%) were NBP students. The mean (standard deviation) DREEM score was 111 (25). No significant differences were observed between the programs except for the domain “academic self-perceptions” being higher in RNP students (P<.001). Higher mean DREEM scores were observed among students studying the new curriculum in the RNP (P<.001) and NBP (P>.05). CONCLUSION: Nursing students generally perceived their learning environment as more positive than negative. Regular students were more positive than bridging students. Students who experienced the new curriculum were more positive towards learning. LIMITATIONS: The cross-sectional design and unequal gender and study level distributions may limit generalizability of the results. Longitudinal, large-scale studies with more even distributions of participant characteristics are needed.