Validating modified PHEEM questionnaire for measuring educational environment in academic emergency departments

Area of Science:

• Medical Education Research
• Psychometrics
• Emergency Medicine Training

Background:

• The educational environment significantly impacts postgraduate training quality.
• A valid instrument is needed to assess this environment.
• The Postgraduate Hospital Educational Environment Measure (PHEEM) is widely used for resident perception evaluation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the psychometric quality of the Persian version of the PHEEM questionnaire.
• To assess its reliability, construct validity, and applicability in emergency medicine residency programs.

Main Methods:

• The Persian PHEEM questionnaire was administered to 89 emergency medicine residents in Iran.
• Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha.
• Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses were used to evaluate construct validity.

Main Results:

• The overall Cronbach's alpha was 0.86, indicating good internal consistency.
• Factor analysis did not support the original three subscales of the PHEEM.
• The mean total score was 2.24 (SD: 0.06).

Conclusions:

• The Persian PHEEM is a reliable and practical tool for evaluating the clinical educational environment in emergency medicine.
• It demonstrates good psychometric properties for this specific context.