Innovation in medical education: implementation of problem based learning under the umbrella of a traditional curriculum - perceptions of students and faculty

ABSTRACT

To take the feedback of the students regarding the process of PBL, and of the faculty about student's performance. Descriptive study. The department of Medical education, Rawalpindi Medical College from 2007 till June 2008. The study was carried out in the first year class of 270 students at Rawalpindi Medical College. The Basic Sciences teaching was augmented by problem-based learning and integrated approach. Students of first academic year were allocated randomly to 20 batches each comprising 12-13 students. One facilitator was randomly allocated to each batch. Basic science faculty was made to participate actively in problem based learning along with clinical experts. The completed program was evaluated based on structured questionnaires. The response of students towards PBL as teaching strategy, was encouraging. Quantitative analysis showed that the mean score of the student's performance was 14.74 [SD +/- 3.255] out of 20. Most of the students [78.6%] agreed that the problem based learning facilitated their learning process whereas 6.5% disagreed and 14.9% did not comment. The study showed that it is possible to adopt problem based learning in the undergraduate medical course under a conventional curriculum