Applicability of open book examination as a teaching strategy in medical schools

Abstract

Introduction:In the last decades, pedagogical practices and teaching methodologies have experienced radical changes, culminating today with the exponential growth of active teaching methodologies. Despite the growing use of these active methodologies in medical courses, the theoretical evaluation models changed little, if at all, in the last decades, which should not occur, as the evaluation systems need to evolve concomitantly to ensure a cohesive, quality teaching-learning process. Objective:To demonstrate how open-book examination is inserted in medical courses.Methods: An integrative review was developed by searching for publications indexed in the last 10 years in the databases of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (PubMed), "Scientific Electronic Library Online" (SciELO), Science Direct, and the "Education Resources Information Center" (ERIC), as full articles written in Portuguese or English. The following descriptors were used in combination, respectively in English and Portuguese: "medicine", "assessment", "open book examination", "open book exam", "open book test" and "open book assessment"; "medicina", "avaliação", "prova com consulta", "avaliação com consulta" and "teste com consulta".Results: For this review, a total of eleven publications that met the eligibility criteria were selected, and after their theoretical immersion and analysis, two main categories emerged: "Open-book examination as an educational resource for medical education" and "Open-book examination as a pedagogical alternative in the pandemic scenario", which were analyzed in the light of an integrative review. Conclusion:Although there are still doubts and further studies are required, it is evident that Open-Book examination is very pertinent to medical education, as it contributes to the training of professionals with high capacity for questioning and debating, who are prepared for permanent study and education routines, and who understand that there is constant evolution of knowledge in the medical field.