A controlled trial of team-based learning in an ambulatory medicine clerkship for medical students.
BACKGROUND
Team-based learning (TBL) has been studied in several preclinical settings, but there is less evidence for its effectiveness in clinical curricula.


OBJECTIVE
We compared the impact of TBL versus usual small group lecture (SGL) on knowledge objectives in a clinical clerkship.


METHODS
We used an unblinded crossover design with 112 students rotating through the Ambulatory Medicine clerkship. In each rotation of the clerkship, 3 clinical topics were taught as SGL and 3 as TBL. We compared performance on the knowledge examination for those items taught with TBL and those with SGL.


RESULTS
Performance by students taught by TBL was higher than those taught by SGL in each topic, except Hypertension. The average effect size of the six measures was 0.51.


CONCLUSIONS
TBL appears to be a more effective method than the usual small group lecture in achievement of knowledge objectives for clinical clerkship students.
Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21287, USA. pthomas1@jhmi.edu
Patricia A
PA
Thomas
Craig W
CW
Bowen
D000553:Ambulatory Care; D002982:Clinical Clerkship / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D003479:Curriculum; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000458:organization & administration; D004521:Educational Measurement; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*; D014481:United States