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Problem‐Based Learning Curriculum and Assessment of Anatomical Knowledge: Kuwait University Experience
Author(s) -
Khan Khalid,
AlHussaini Heba,
Mohammed Ahmed
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.690.3
Subject(s) - multidisciplinary approach , curriculum , medical education , rote learning , human body , psychology , body of knowledge , subject (documents) , function (biology) , medicine , mathematics education , anatomy , teaching method , pedagogy , computer science , cooperative learning , sociology , knowledge management , social science , evolutionary biology , biology , library science
Sound knowledge of the structure and function of the human body is an indispensable requisite for safe and efficient clinical practice. Since the dramatic expansion of the body of scientific knowledge, it has become practically impossible to design an all‐inclusive undergraduate medical curriculum. Thus curricular reformists citing the cliché “ what students learn today will be outdated tomorrow ” made drastic reductions in Anatomy content, arguing that it was merely rote learning of excessive factual details. Therefore, going along with curricular reform, Kuwait University Faculty of Medicine adopted the Problem‐Based Learning (PBL) as the main instructional strategy. This curricular change led to modifications in the assessment strategy as well. Students are no longer required to demonstrate their competency in Anatomy as anatomy questions are included in a multidisciplinary MCQ‐based end‐of‐module examinations and Objective Structured Practical Examination (OSPE). Our data indicate that poor performance in Anatomy including OSPE does not lead to failure in the multidisciplinary examination. We have also noted that student knowledge of Anatomy depends on the number of questions in an exam. Also if there are fewer Anatomy questions in an end‐of‐module examination, students ignore Anatomy. We think that this is a major flaw in the multidisciplinary MCQ‐based end‐of‐module examination and it is affecting their performance during clinical training. We suggest that in order to better prepare students for clinical training, it must be mandatory for them to demonstrate their competency in all basic sciences in a subject‐based examination.