Problem-based learning: a place in the sun for radiology.

摘要

Context and setting Our Faculty of Medicine had been running a traditional, 5-year undergraduate medical curriculum since 1924. In 2003, the school changed its curriculum to adopt a SPICES (Student-centred, Problem-based learning [PBL], Integrated, Community-based, Electives and Systematic) model. Radiology was integrated into all courses throughout the programme. Why the idea was necessary There are 20 radiologists in our country, serving a population of 26 million people. There is thus a great need for doctors who are able to interpret their own radiographic investigations. For this reason, undergraduate basic radiology training in the new PBL curriculum was considered essential. What was done The cardio-respiratory course in the first year of study was identified as a suitable place in the programme to initiate basic radiological anatomy learning. The learning outcomes, content and cases were modified appropriately and relevant radiographic material for the cases were prepared. Students attended 2 small-group sessions in which the normal anatomy of chest radiographs was discussed and demonstrated in an interactive manner. These sessions were facilitated by a radiologist and supplemented the interpretation of chest radiographs in the PBL cases. Emphasis was put on chest radiography as this is the most common radiological investigation in clinical practice in developing countries. The educational impact of this learning strategy was evaluated by determining the ability of Year 1 and final year students in the identification of normal radiological anatomy visible on a chest radiograph. Unlike the Year 1 students, the final year students had been taught radiology in the traditional programme (discontinued in 2003) in large classroom lectures. Student and tutor satisfaction was assessed after the course using a self-administered questionnaire scored on a Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree).