A Problem-based Learning Medical Humanities Course Facilitated by the Teaching Assistants Majored in the Humanities-a Preliminary Report

Abstract

Background: To improve medical humanities education, we developed a new course of ＂Medicine and Humanities＂ (MH) facilitated by attending physicians and teaching assistants (TAs) majored in the humanities in 2013. We further examined the outcome of the course which was conducted in 2014 spring. Materials and Methods: The second year medical students (n = 131) were divided into 16 small groups with attending physicians assigned as their tutors in problembased learning (PBL) MH course. Postgraduate students currently or previously enrolled in the master's or doctoral program in College of Liberal Arts were recruited as TAs. The HM course included 16 classes. Eight classes were facilitated by the attending physicians (physician facilitated class, PFC) with topics focusing on issues such as narrative medicine, medical development in Taiwan, diseases and history, computer addiction, etc. TAs co-facilitated the other 8 classes (TA co-facilitated class, TCFC). Students’ performances in the classes are evaluated by the attending physicians and TAs. Students' feedbacks to the course were assessed by a questionnaire and their final reports. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted to examine students' learning outcomes and feedbacks were conducted. Results: TAs majored in the humanities gave positive input to the classes. They facilitated and reinforced the PBL discussions. Students expressed no difference in satisfaction scores for the content and the performance between PFC and TCFC. However, they were more satisfied with the pre-class preparation for TCFC than PFC (4.72 ± 0.51 vs 4.67 ± 0.52, p = 0.03). Students' scores given by the tutors or TAs were positively correlated (r = 0.36, p ＜ 0.01). Conclusions: TAs in the humanities broadened students' visions of humanities. The attending physicians provided their experience and made the discussions concerning humanities and medical affairs relevant. The course facilitated by the attending physicians and TAs majored in the humanities has polished the PBL in ＂Medicine and Humanities＂. In addition, external teaching resources, e.g. TAs from outside of medical campus, may have important contributions to post-graduate and under-graduate medical education. This work has been presented orally in AMEE 2014 at Milan, Italy.