Successful use of problem-based learning in a third-year pediatric clerkship.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the effect of changing from lectures to a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum on student knowledge accrual and satisfaction with the didactic portion of a clerkship.


METHODS
Study of cohorts before and after PBL introduction and in comparison with unchanged medicine clerkship.


METHODS
Third-year pediatric clerkship at 5 clinical sites.


METHODS
The PBL curriculum was introduced in the 1996 academic year. The 2 classes before the intervention served as historic controls (n = 319), whereas the 2 classes after PBL served as the intervention group (n = 320).


METHODS
Small groups of students worked through 6 PBL cases representing common pediatric illnesses.


METHODS
Knowledge was assessed with the pediatric and internal medicine subject examination of the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME); student satisfaction was assessed by an anonymous end-of-rotation questionnaire.


RESULTS
Scores on the pediatric subject examination improved significantly from means of 69.2 and 70.0 in the historic control group to 73.6 and 74.2 in the PBL cohort (P <.01). Scores on the internal medicine subject exam during the same time periods remained unchanged until the second year after the change (69.1 and 70.2, respectively, before the change; 70.1 and 72.4, respectively, after the change). Analysis of variance results indicated a significant increase in pediatric subject examination scores associated with the introduction of PBL (P <.01). Overall student satisfaction with the pre-PBL lecture series was 3.3, whereas PBL sessions received a score of 4.3.


CONCLUSIONS
Use of PBL in a clinical clerkship was associated with higher scores on the NBME subject examination and increased student satisfaction. These results should encourage the use of PBL during the clinical years.
Curtis
J A
JA
Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA. curtis@aecom.yu.edu
Indyk
D
D
Taylor
B
B
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002982:Clinical Clerkship; D006801:Humans; D009519:New York City; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000193:education*; D018794:Problem-Based Learning