Study of competency to interpret biochemistry case scenarios by medical students in integrated Vs traditional curriculum

Introduction: Problem-based learning has been proposed as an alternative to learning by the traditional lecture method with advantages of assisting medical students to acquire and retain relevant information through integration of basic and clinical sciences. It is also proposed to motivate and improve students' ability to integrate theory and practice in clinical practice. Acquisition of diagnostic reasoning skills in Problem based learning curriculum is proposed to be better than in a conventional medical education. Materials and Methods: Seventy students from AIMST University, Malaysia following an integrated hybrid PBL curriculum (hPBL) and seventy students from JSS medical college, India following a traditional curriculum (TC) were considered for the study. Twenty-five case scenarios in multiple choice formats were administered to both groups. Results: Students from the hPBL curriculum showed a better performance with respect to all questions compared to students from TC. Statistically significant difference was found between the mean percentage score at AIMST (72.11%) compared to that at JSSMC (56.53%) (P<0.002). Conclusion: Students studying in an hPBL curriculum developed better diagnostic competence to answer questions with respect to all major organ systems in the body compared to students from the TC. This is presumed to be because they are better able to integrate knowledge acquired from all of the basic sciences. Since most of the qualifying exams around the globe are objective oriented, training students to acquire medical knowledge in an integrated way and prepare them to develop a better diagnostic competence is the need of the hour.