While renovating our traditional medical curriculum to integrated curricular system in 1996, we planned to introduce a course of problem-based leaning (PBL) on tutorial basis after finishing 14 courses of the integrated medical curriculum for two years. One tutorial group was coursed of one tutor and eight students, and 105 students of the second grade were divided into thirteen small tutorial groups. The period of PBL course was two weeks from December 1 to 14 in 1997.
There were three interrelated steps for design of PBL course: course preparation, implementation, and evaluation which were conducted by PBL subcommittee consisted of nineteen teachers. Students were exposed to four clinical case modules, and they met in small tutorial room three times per week for two weeks. The PBL programme was evaluated by questionnaire survey method at the end of PBL course. We obtained satisfactory and positive results from reply of faculty and students. Since many teachers participated in planning, implementing, and evaluation of PBL, we could accumulate lots of knowledge and skills regarding the PBL, and it was a good opportunity to train expertise for PBL, test the feasibility changing to PBL curriculum. At this moment, our present integrated medical curriculum will be gradually converted to PBL system totally, and our experience will provide a good aid for other medical schools toppling traditional medical curriculum to introduce PBL in their medical education.
|