[Construction, validation and use of an instrument developed to assess learning clinical environments in medical specialties]. / Construcción y validación de un instrumento para evaluar ambientes clínicos de aprendizaje en las especialidades médicas.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Clinical education is an essential component of medical training and takes place in relatively adequate learning environments. OBJECTIVE: Build and validate an instrument specific for the assessment of factors influencing a clinical learning environment. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A Likert-type questionnaire was designed and its content was validated, while statistical trials were applied to it to determine its psychometric properties. The instrument was refined and assessed twice (a pilot of 122 cases on October 2011 and the study of 4,189 PUEM residents on March 2012). It consists of 28 items, distributed in four dimensions interpersonal relations (IR), teaching processes (TP), institutional culture (IC), and service dynamics (SD). RESULTS: Cronbach's α of the whole pilot questionnaire after item refinement and 4,189 case study was 0.94 and 0.96, respectively. The percentage of total variance explained by the first component was 48 and 46%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The reliability and validity of the whole questionnaire and by dimension was adjusted to assess clinical learning environments in Mexican contexts and allows ranking specialized medical departments.