Problem-based learning in medical education

Abstract

Problem Based Learning (PBL) has not yet been instituted systematically at medical schools in Denmark. We therefore introduced the method in a 10th term course in internal medicine and surgery, eighteen months before graduation, and evaluated the experience after two terms with a total of 93 students and 15 tutors. Compared with traditional education such as bed-side clinics and lectures etc., PBL was the preferred method by 67% of the students, while 28% found the methods equally good and only 2% discredited PBL. The main advantage of PBL was ascribed to motivation and activation, the students finding themselves as being part of the problem-solving situation. The tutors estimated PBL highly when teaching clinical coping strategies, stressing the need for a realistic and appropriate setting. This experience supports the decision to introduce PBL throughout the new medical curriculum in Copenhagen.