European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF DIDACTIC LECTURE VERSUS CASE BASED LEARNING AS A TEACHING METHOD IN CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY

Lavakumar Somu*

ABSTRACT

Background: Interactive student centered approaches such as Case Based Learning (CBL) is being increasingly adopted in undergraduate medical education to promote active learning. Aims and Objectives: To compare the performance of students taught through didactic lecture and CBL, and to obtain a qualitative feedback on CBL Teaching. Materials and Methods: This cross sectional descriptive study was conducted in the Department of Pharmacology, Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute, Kancheepuram Dt, Tamilnadu. After obtaining Institutional Ethical Committee approval, 100 students were randomly selected and 50 students each were allocated to either the CBL group or the didactic lecture. Using a topic on Cardiac Failure that had been previously taught to these students around 6 months ago, the study group was taught using case based learning, whereas the comparison group was taught using a didactic lecture. A pre and post test was done using MCQs for both groups to test the difference between the 2 teaching methods. A 4 point Likert scale questionnaire which contained 6 questions was administered to the students, to know their perception on the usefulness of the CBL. Results: The pretest scored scores of the 2 groups were comparable with no significant difference. However, post test scores of the students taught using CBL were significantly higher as compared those taught using the didactic lecture (p<0.0001). 100% of the students in the CBL group reported having found the CBL sessions to be an interesting and motivating method of gaining knowledge, and promoting group discussion. 85% of them also felt that CBL enhanced diagnostic skills, which would be of great help in the future also. Conclusion: Case Based Learning is an effective teaching tool in the medical curriculum for a better understanding of Clinical Pharmacology among the medical students..

Keywords: Case based learning, Didactic lecture, Clinical Pharmacology, Shri Sathya Sai Medical College.