Teaching innovation in an undergraduate theoretical medicine course

Abstract

The School of Medicine of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile implemented diverse curricular changes addressing teaching challenges, including those related to generational diversity. To describe the implementation and results of curricular innovation in the Theoretic Gastroenterology Course (CTG) imparted between 2008 and 2020. The new teaching methods consisted in the implementation of interactive sessions, research conferences, video-recorded classes, and a learning management/assessment platform. An assessment of the learning model was implemented. As bibliographic material we incorporated self-instructive material and the CTG manual was re-edited. We registered the course syllabi, evaluation surveys, and final grades. Students dedicated more time to attend the course, from 12.2 hours before to 18 hours after the implementation of video lessons (p < 0.05). They reported improvements in the areas "Feedback" (from 6.2 to 6.6, on a scale of 1 to 7; p < 0.05) and "Grades" (from 6.3 to 6.4; p < 0.05), after implementing a learning model assessment. The score for "Information sources" increased from 6.5 to 6.6 after the re-edition of the manual (p < 0.05). The final grades were similar or significantly higher than the average grades of all the theoretical courses imparted in the same period. The CTG underwent a series of curricular modifications, allowing for a rapid adaptation to extremely dynamic academic conditions.