[Introduction of a brief Problem-Based-Learning (PBL) experience in traditional medical faculty curriculum].

BACKGROUND: For medical students studying in a traditional medical curriculum, advancement from the pre-clinical years to clinical clerkships requires a conceptual move from disease-oriented thinking to problem-oriented medicine.

OBJECTIVE: To implement an educational tool in the introductory course of clinical medicine that will assist students in the development of comprehensive medical reasoning, including the generation of a dynamic problem list, its assessment and the construction of investigative and treatment plans.

METHODS: Since 2001 a novel brief Problem-Based Learning (PBL) experience has been offered as a component of the Introduction to Medicine course given to 4th year medical students prior to the start of their clinical years at the Hebrew University Medical School. The brief experience consists of daily meetings given to small groups of students at the final stages of the pre-clinical courses. Each PBL day covers a single clinical case revealed sequentially over 3-5 structured sessions, interspersed with periods of self-directed learning. Cases are highly structured and contain all of the required information pertaining to the clinical problems presented.

RESULTS: Evaluations of this course over 4 years by both students and teachers have been outstanding, with students consistently stating in their written comments that the PBL experience was one of the most meaningful learning experiences they have encountered during the pre-clinical phase of their training.

CONCLUSIONS: This brief PBL experience appears to help in building up the students' clinical competence during their first clerkship experiences. It may be especially useful for medical schools using the traditional medical curriculum.