Abstract
The direct influence of the educational environment on the performance of students of medical specialties affects their performance and the quality of care they provide, so instruments have been developed to evaluate it, aiming at specific strengths and weaknesses that allow, if necessary, redirect academic policies, which is relevant in quality management systems and in accreditation processes. Objective: To determine negative aspects in the perception of the educational environment of legal medicine residents of the Posgraduate Program in Forensic Medical Specialties of the University of Costa Rica, as input to establish a strategic university plan with improvement option. Material and Method: Observational, descriptive and quantitative cross-sectional study. The population were the resident doctors of the Posgraduate Program in Legal Medicine. The variables studied were: age, sex, educational environment and semester of residence. For the measurement of the educational environment, the Postgraduate Hospital Educational Environment Measure questionnaire was used in its translation into Spanish, which allows the simultaneous evaluation of three domains of perception: autonomy, teaching and social support; Its application was made in January 2020, it was self-administered, voluntary and anonymous. The analysis calculated absolute and relative frequencies, and means and standard deviation of the items and domains, as well as the global score. Results: The total population of resident doctors participated, 62.5% women and 37.5% men, 75% of them aged between 25 and 30 years old. Their perception of the educational environment was excellent in global terms, with a positive perception of autonomy, quality of teaching and a good and supportive environment, although aspects of the three domains that required correction were identified, obtaining lower scores in all domains in the second semester group that was precisely the one with the lowest performance. Discussion: The identification of aspects to be corrected requires follow-up and periodicity as they are applicable and interpretable in a given space of time. According to the results, the perception of autonomy could improve with the existence of an instruction manual for first-time resident doctors, which includes university aspects that they should know about. Improving the perception of teaching requires involving teachers, to identify coincidences and disadvantages of the teaching function and generate alternatives for improvement, which also have an impact on social support. Conclusion: This study allowed to identify deficient aspects in the educational environment of this postgraduate program, most of them located in the perception of teaching, which require the implementation of a university management plan in the short, medium and long term, which must be continuous.