Abstract
PURPOSE: It aimed at describing the perception of the clinical educational environment by physiotherapy students based on the Educational Environment Measurement Questionnaire of the Postgraduate Hospital in Chile. METHODS: The clinical education environment was evaluated according to the PHEEM by 192 students originally enrolled in the fifth year of the physiotherapy career at three different headquarters of the academic institution: Santiago, Viña del Mar and Concepcion Campus (Metropolitan, Valparaiso and Bio Bio region, respectively), from March to October 2018. The Cronbach's alpha was applied to measure the reliability of the instrument and the Student t and ANOVA tests were used to compare the differences of PHEEM scores by headquarters, environmental areas, and experience of internship. RESULTS: A total overall average score of 125.88 was obtained, which meant an excellent educational environment. The overall score was 127.6±22.7 for Headquarters1, 125.6±21.6 for Headquarters2 and 122.5±26.9 for Headquarters3. According to the type of establishment, the scores were of 127.1±22.1 for private and 123.5±26.3 for public institutes. According to the type of area, the score was cataloged as an excellent educational environment in all cases, except in the respiratory care area (lowest score: 117.5±29.1). Finally, the score was 126.9±20.5 for the first internship, 121.7±29.3 for the second and 129.4±19.6 for the third. CONCLUSION: There is relative homogeneity of the clinical educational environment for different headquarters, types of establishment or type of area; but there are significant differences in the number of the internship. The promotion of a good clinical educational environment can have an important impact on the development and performance of the future professional, being the detection of negative aspects an opportunity to improve the hidden curriculum.