Impact of ‘structured bedside teaching module’ on students’ learning

Abstract

Introduction: Innovations in medical education' is the key to fill the gap between expectations from our UG students and actual practicality which we observe in them after graduation. Bedside teaching is an excellent Teaching-Learning method used since ages. It is the best method which if properly undertaken can give insight about all three domains of learning to the students. However if not properly planned this can go in haphazard manner and may not be proved that fruitful. In-spite of vital importance of bedside teaching in medical education its popularity is decreasing day by day. If bedside teaching is properly structured and meticulously used, it can be utilized as an excellent method of imparting learning in all three domains. Considering these facts in mind, structured bedside examination module was prepared and this study was undertaken to study impact of this structured bedside teaching module on students’ learning. Materials and Methods: Students of 7 th semester posted in medicine were enrolled in study and were divided in two groups. On group 1 students this novel module was implemented. In this module the students were given learning objectives of the case a day prior and in order to achieve active participation of all students, job of case presentation was distributed among all the students. Group 2 students underwent teaching learning session by conventional bedside teaching method. In this case was allotted to one student a day prior and he was asked to present the case on the day of bedside clinic. In both groups experienced teachers took T-L session. Cognitive part was tested by set comprising of 5 questions from ‘must know area’, which was given as pretest and posttest before and after clinic. Posttest was also repeated after 3 days. Results in two groups were compared and analyzed. On third day evaluation were done by OSCE, thereby along with knowledge, communication skills as well as psychomotor skills were evaluated. Results: Results were encouraging in intervention group with statistical significance in all the tests. Feedback from students was also positive. Regarding bedside teaching all students agreed that it is essential component of medical education. However majority of them said that they could not get expected quantum of learning out of one bedside clinic. On the contrary majority of students appreciated the new module and also said at least 2 cases of each system should be taken in this manner so that lasting impact in learning can be achieved. In nutshell, if little changes are made in conventional bed teaching tremendous positive changes can be achieved. Keywords: Structured bedside Teaching module, T-L method.