Using a Problem/Case-Based Learning Program to Increase First and Second Year Medical Students’ Discussions of Health Care Cost Topics

Abstract

BACKGROUND The rising costs of health care in the United States are unsustainable and gaps in physician knowledge of how to provide care at a lower cost remains a contributing factor. It has been suggested that learning about health care costs should be incorporated into existing, already overburdened medical school curricula. OBJECTIVE To increase the discussion of health care costs among first and second year medical students, we added a component of health care cost education to an existing problem/case-based learning (PBL/CBL) program without adding curricular time. DESIGN A total of 98 medical students participated in this study throughout the first 2 years of their educational program. Students were charged with researching and discussing health care cost topics as part of their weekly PBL/CBL case conferences. Faculty facilitators tracked each student's participation in discussions of health care cost topics as well as how often students initiated new conversations about health care cost topics during their case conferences. RESULTS 100% of students engaged in conversations about health care cost topics throughout their first and second year PBL/CBL program. In addition, students increasingly initiated new conversations about health care cost topics as they progressed through their courses from the first to the second year (R 2 = 0.887, P