Perception of educational environment in the operating theatre by surgical residents, a single-centre prospective study.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the perception of operation theatre educational environment using surgical theatre educational environmental measure. METHODS This cross-sectional study was conducted at Liaquat National Hospital, Karachi, from August 2015 to February 2016, and comprised surgical and allied trainees. The reliability of the surgical theatre educational environmental measure questionnaire was assessed by Cronbach's alpha. The minimum score on the questionnaire was 40 and possible maximum score was 200. A score of at least 120 out of 200 was considered favourable. SPSS 22 was used for data analysis. RESULTS Of the 103 participants who completed the questionnaire, 52(50.4%) were males and 51(49.5%) females. The results showed favourable operating theatre educational environment with the total score of 129. The overall reliability was calculated to be 0.97. Male residents perceived the educational environment more adequate than females (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS The questionnaire was found to be an easy, reliable and practical tool for measuring the perception of operating theatre educational environment.