Abstract

BackgroundThis study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of PBL–CBL combined teaching in thyroid surgery and make observations from the students’ perspectives, based on their satisfaction with the learning process.MethodsWe prospectively enrolled 354 fourth-year students majoring in clinical medicine, along with 232 residents, from September 2014 to June 2019. These participants were randomly allocated into either the combined PBL–CBL teaching group or the traditional lecture-based classroom group to attend a course about thyroid nodules. Both pre- and post-class quizzes were conducted. An anonymous questionnaire was also administered to both groups to evaluate the students’ perceptions and experiences. We compared the two teaching methods among all the students as well as with the fourth-year students and residents in subgroups.ResultsThe traditional group’s pre-class quiz scores were significantly higher than the PBL–CBL group’s (as determined by a two-tailed t-test at a 95% confidence interval, T = 16.483, P < 0.001). After class, in the PBL–CBL group, the mean total quiz score and the basic knowledge and case analysis scores increased significantly (P < 0.001). The PBL–CBL group’s performance improvement was significantly higher than the traditional group’s (increasing from 52.76 to 70.51 vs. from 67.03 to 71.97). Furthermore, the scores for learning motivation, understanding, student–teacher interaction, the final examination, communication skills, clinical thinking skills, self-learning skills, teamwork skills, and knowledge absorption, as measured by the survey, were significantly higher in the PBL–CBL group than in the traditional group (P < 0.001). Meanwhile, the survey scores representing the amount of students’ free time the course consumed were significantly lower in the PBL–CBL group than in the traditional group (P < 0.001).ConclusionsPBL combined with CBL may be an effective method for improving medical students’ and residents’ performance and enhancing their clinical skills.

Highlights

  • This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of Problem-based learning (PBL)–Case-based learning (CBL) combined teaching in thyroid surgery and make observations from the students’ perspectives, based on their satisfaction with the learning process

  • To evaluate the effectiveness and acceptability of the combined PBL–CBL teaching method in thyroid surgery teaching, this paper reports on our implementation of the method among fourth-year students and residents in their thyroid surgery session over the past 5 years, drawing some comparisons between it and the traditional lecture teaching method

  • 97.2% (344/354) of the fourth-year students and 97.0% (225/232) of the residents completed the pre- and post-class quizzes and survey, including 276 participants (167 fourth-year students and 109 residents) who were assigned to the PBL–CBL group and 293 (177 fourthyear students and 116 residents) who were assigned to the traditional group

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Summary

Introduction

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of PBL–CBL combined teaching in thyroid surgery and make observations from the students’ perspectives, based on their satisfaction with the learning process. Traditional lectures are still the most commonly adopted instructional method in medical and clinical teaching [6]. Despite the benefits of lecture-style teaching, research has produced evidence that shows that lectures are not effective for teaching important critical reasoning skills that are required in higher education, especially in professional courses, such as in the study of medicine. This is because the traditional lecture method [7, 8] is regarded as a teacher-centered educational approach whereby knowledge is transmitted by and from the teacher and passively received by the students

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