Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Problem‑based learning as an effective method for teaching theoretical surgery courses to medical students

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

. Farzad Vaghef Davari
. Farzad Teymouri 1
. Hadi Ahmadi Amoli 2
. Helia Mojtabavi 3
. Amirsina Sharifi
. Farshid Alaeddini 4
. Mohammad Ashouri 5
. Hossein Zabihi 2
. Ghazal Shariatpanahi 6
. Mohammadreza Zafarghandi 1

1 School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, International Campus, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Surgery, Sina Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

3 School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

4 Research Center for Health Management in Mass Gathering, Red Crescent Society of Islamic Republic of Iran, Tehran, Iran

5 Department of Surgery, Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

6 School of Medicine, Bahrami Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Abstract
BACKGROUND: This study was designed to assess the clinical judgment of medical students in
surgery clinical decision‑making by a standard examination after lecture‑based learning (LBL) or
problem‑based learning (PBL).
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective randomized trial study on 175 medical students
whom were randomly allocated to three groups was performed during November 2017 and January
2018. LBL group (n = 103), PBL group led by an attending (n = 39), and PBL group (n = 33) led by
an intern. Chi‑squared test and independent student t‑test were used to compare between the two
groups. All the analyses were performed by the two‑sided method using the Statistical Package for
the Social Sciences software (SPSS version 22; SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA), and a P < 0.05 set
as statistically significant.
RESULTS: The students in the PBL group scored significantly higher on the posttraining multiple‑choice
examination, compared to the LBL group (P = 0.048). However, there was no significant difference
between the PBL group led by an attending and the PBL group led by an intern (P = 0.892).
CONCLUSION: We concluded that PBL remarkably increased the students’ scores in the
problem‑solving examination, as compared to the conventional method. We found no significant
differences in PBL facilitated by an attending or an intern.

Keywords

Learning method
medical education
problem‑based learning
surgical education
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 11, Issue 11
December 2021
Pages 1-5

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