title: Incorporating Team-Based Learning Into a Physician Assistant Clinical Pharmacology Course.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To obtain student perceptions of team-based learning and compare the effectiveness of team-based learning and traditional lecture formats in a clinical pharmacology course for physician assistant (PA) students.
  
  
  METHODS
  Clinical pharmacology is a course offered to PA students in their first year of training at LIU Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY. In spring 2014, half of the course was offered in a traditional lecture format and the remaining half was offered in a team-based learning format. The team-based learning format had 3 components: (1) prereading assignments, (2) individual readiness assessment tests, and (3) team readiness assessment tests. So that student perceptions of the integration of team-based learning activities into the course could be evaluated, presurveys and postsurveys were administered. The effectiveness of team-based learning was evaluated by comparing overall student performance with student performance in the preceding year.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty-three students were enrolled in the course and completed the presurveys and postsurveys. The survey results are presented in Table 1. Comparison of student performance on examinations with performance from the previous year showed similar outcomes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Incorporating a team-based learning pedagogical approach in the PA pharmacology course yielded similar examination results to those of traditional lecture formats. Presurvey and postsurvey questionnaires yielded various student perceptions of team-based learning.
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: Elaine
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Antony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pham
mesh_terms: D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003479:Curriculum; D007858:Learning; D010601:Pharmacology, Clinical / Q000193:education*; D010823:Physician Assistants / Q000193:education*