Problem-based learning as an effective learning tool in community medicine: Initiative in a private medical college of a developing country

Abstract

Background:Knowledge of community medicine is essential for health care professionals to function as efficient primary health care physicians. Medical students learning Community Medicine as a subject are expected to be competent in critical thinking and generic skills so as to analyze community health problems better. However, current teaching by didactic lectures fails to develop these essential skills. Problem-based learning (PBL) could be an effective strategy in this respect. This study was hence done to compare the academic performance of students who were taught Community Medicine by the PBL method with that of students taught by traditional methods, to assess the generic skills of students taught in a PBL environment and to assess the perception of students toward PBL methodology.Materials and Methods:This study was conducted among seventh-semester final-year medical students between June and November 2014. PBL was introduced to a randomly chosen group of students, and their performance in an assessment exam at the end of postings was compared with that of the remaining students. Generic skills and perception toward PBL were also assessed using standardized questionnaires.Results:A total of 77 students took part in the brainstorming session of PBL. The correlation between self-assigned scores of the participants and those assigned by the tutor in the brainstorming session of PBL was significant (r = 0.266, P = 0.05). Out of 54 students who took part in the presentation session, almost all 53 (98.1%) had good perception toward PBL. Demotivational scores were found to be significantly higher among males (P = 0.024). The academic performance of students (P < 0.001) and success rates (P = 0.05) in the examination were higher among students who took part in PBL compared to controls.Conclusion:PBL helped improve knowledge of students in comparison to those exposed only to didactic lectures. As PBL enabled students to identify the gaps in their knowledge and enhanced their group functioning and generic skills, we recommend PBL sessions: They would help optimize the training in Community Medicine at medical schools. Good correlation of tutor and self-assessment scores of participants in the brainstorming session suggests that the role of tutors could be restricted to assessment in presentation sessions alone. Demotivation, which hinders group performance in PBL, needs to be corrected by counselling and timely feedback by the tutors.

Students’ perceptions regarding problem-based learning in community medicine

“…17 Similar to the findings reported by others, students in this study had good perceptions of the PBL program, and rated it highly. 7,12 The high unstandardized Cronbach"s alpha value indicates that there is a good degree of variability within the sample. 18,19 The qualitative feedback provided several suggestions for improvement.…”

“…7,12,13 This has prompted the shift to PBL in several institutions the world over, as it is better suited to the development and transfer of the aforementioned generic skills. 5,8,[14][15][16] True to the focus on the process rather than the product in PBL, we chose to investigate the perceived benefits in generic skills like communication; interaction with various functionaries-public health and otherwise; selfdirected learning; etc.…”

“…7 However, we decided against its use because it has not been formally assessed for validity, and hence, its psychometric properties are unknown. 8 Following extensive discussions, we identified the following broad headings: literature review; planning; budget; oral and written communication; interaction with various functionaries; teamwork; resource management; and problem-solving.…”

Student’s perception about Modular teaching and various instructional strategies in the subject of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

“…3 Health authorities also recommend that medical training should be based on integration of knowledge, scientific inquiry, analysis and subsequent ability to drive conclusions. 4 Current challenge is to determine a suitable curriculum and teaching methods which allow better application of knowledge and clinical skills by the medical students.…”

Problem/case-based learning with competition introduced in severe infection education: an exploratory study

“…The PBL approach to learning in medical education is the most significant educational innovation in the past four decades. Medical students learning by PBL approach obtained significantly higher knowledge and skill scores (Meo 2013 ), had increased learning and recalling output (Imanieh et al 2014 ), excellent academic performance and higher success rates in examinations (Joseph et al 2016 ), enhanced problem-solving skills and analytic skills (Shamsan and Syed 2009 ), as well as outstanding clinical reasoning skills (Tayyeb 2012 ). They were better at integrating basic science knowledge with clinical cases (Callis et al 2010 ).…”