Doctor-patient relationship: Effectiveness of the “Jigsaw” method of teaching among Phase I MBBS students in a tertiary care teaching hospital

Background: Students learn passively in the lecture format and rely on teachers for knowledge acquisition, making it unsuitable for achieving the higher levels of knowledge. Jigsaw learning encourages collaboration between learners for a deeper understanding of the subject and the facilitator role is relatively limited. Aim and Objectives: The aim of the study was to: 1. Determine the effectiveness of the jigsaw method versus traditional lecture methods for the teaching of Attitude, communication, and ethics (AETCOM) in Phase I MBBS students. 2. To assess the perception of students toward the jigsaw method. Material and Methods: This quasi-experimental study included 104 Phase I MBBS students, who were assigned to the jigsaw group and traditional lecture group. As part of the jigsaw method, 10 parent groups and five expert groups were formed to encourage peer group learning. Validated pre-tests, post-tests, and questionnaires were used in the evaluation. Results: On post-test, both groups scored significantly higher than pre-test, but the scores on pre-test did not differ between them. Post-test scores of the jigsaw group were significantly higher than those of the traditional method group. Jigsaw was rated positively by students for enhancing peer interaction (91%), deeper learning of the subject (90%), and communication skills (89%). Conclusion: The jigsaw method is more effective than the traditional method for the teaching of the AETCOM module to medical undergraduates. It can be used as a helpful tool for teaching communication skills and teamwork by utilizing cooperative learning strategies.

Application of case-based study combined with traditional lecture in the course of Laboratory Medicine and Clinical Sciences / 中华医学教育探索杂志

Objective:To evaluate the effectiveness of the course of Laboratory Medicine and Clinical Sciences in the Laboratory Medicine Faculty of Sun Yat-sen University. Methods:Twenty-four undergraduate students in Batch 2016 of Medical Laboratory Faculty were divided into small groups (4-6 students per group). They learned each case in groups before class. In the first session of each class, the case-based study (CBS) tutor would randomly assign case-related questions to the students. Students were required to present their answers in class. The CBS tutor would guide the students to discuss the case further. In the second session, a lecture associated with the case would be given by a special subject lecturer. After the course, students, tutors and lecturers were given questionnaires and were randomly interviewed to comprehensively understand the course's effectiveness. SPSS 19.0 was used for statistics.Results:Most case discussion tutors agreed that they could guide students to discuss clinical cases well in class and give comments according to students' presentations (93.75%, 15/16). Most of the lecturers agreed that they could well guide students to think about the relationship between laboratory and clinical diagnosis and treatment in class (91.67%, 11/12). Both teachers and students had very positive evaluations of the learning mode, learning content, inspiration to students, and teachers' ability of this course. All the teachers and students agreed that the learning mode of combining CBS with special subject lecture was more helpful for the students to systematically learn medical knowledge compared with a CBS session alone or a lecture alone.Conclusion:The course, Laboratory Medicine and Clinical Sciences, which combines the CBS with the traditional lecture mode, integrates the advantages of the two learning modes. It not only stimulates students' enthusiasm for active learning, deepens clinical knowledge memory, and builds a clinical thinking model, but also enriches the teaching modes of medical laboratory education.

Undergraduate Medical Students’ Attitude And Preferences Toward Traditional Lecture Versus Informal Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning is one of the active learning techniques. There are three commonly recognized types of cooperative learning groups, namely informal cooperative learning (ICL), formal cooperative learning and cooperative base groups. There is no study been done on ICL which relate to radiology teaching. The results of this study will provide evidence to support either traditional lecture (TL) or ICL is a more suitable teaching method for radiology teaching. This study was aimed to compare students’ attitude and preference towards TL versus ICL in radiology teaching. This interventional study had been conducted among 52 third year Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) students at Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin. They underwent both TL and ICL methods during eleven radiology lectures in classroom setting from September 2013 until July 2014. Subsequently, multiple items questionnaires regarding students’ attitude and preferences towards TL and ICL were administered. These questionnaires had undergone validation process and revealed excellent internal consistency with Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.90, 0.92 and 0.88 respectively. The mean total attitude score towards informal cooperative learning was (90.90) (SD: 11.73) significantly higher than the score for traditional lecture 85.46 (SD: 11.82) (p= 0.012). Students showed preference in ICL significantly in six domains. These domains were active involvement in the class, promotion of good rapport among classmates, getting an opportunity to help others, facilitation of understanding difficult materials, improvement of communication skills, opportunity for training to be a good leader and follower, and opportunity for enabling to participate in sharing information, making decision and problem solving. ICL method is recommended in radiology teaching because students demonstrated better students’ attitude and preferences in the learning sessions as compared to TL.