Using the Dutch Residency Educational Climate Test to assess the learning climate of interns at the Townsville Hospital

Background / Aims: Government regulators and medical boards place a high degree of importance on intern learning. In all clinical settings there is a balance between service provision and medical education. Evaluating the learning climate is a means of determining the educational functioning within the clinical environment. The aim of the study was to assess the learning climate of interns at The Townsville Hospital and determine whether it differs between departments using the Dutch Residency Educational Climate Test (D-RECT). The method has previously been validated in Holland and was adapted for an Australian hospital.\ud \ud Methods: Interns at The Townsville Hospital completed the D-RECT survey and returned it anonymously. At the end of the questionnaire there was space for additional comments.\ud \ud Results: The D-RECT questionnaire was completed by fifty three of sixty three interns (84% completion rate). The questionnaire was easy to use and took less than ten minutes to complete. Internal consistency was good, as indicated by the Cronbachs alpha for each of the eleven subgroups within the questionnaire. The additional comments did not provide additional information not already gleaned from the questionnaire. The strengths and weaknesses of the major rotations were analysed and provide an opportunity for improvement.\ud \ud Conclusion: Interns overall perceived the learning climate at The Townsville Hospital positively but the significant areas for improvement must be addressed