Involving a real patient in the design and implementation of case-based learning to engage learners

Abstract

Real patients offer unique opportunities to develop authentic, engaging, and transformative learning experiences for students. Patients are widely employed to teach clinical and interpersonal skills in the clerkship phase of their medical education (M3-M4), but have not been extensively included in the preclinical curriculum (M1-M2) when students are focused on acquiring foundational biomedical science knowledge. To maximize learning and help students connect foundational and clinical science concepts to real-world clinical problems, we involved a real patient in the creation and implementation of a case-based learning (CBL) activity in our preclinical curriculum. Using the patient's narrative as a framework, the CBL addressed relevant aspects of physiology, pathophysiology, anatomy, pharmacology, and nutrition, as well as clinical care decisions, health literacy, and medical ethics. The intervention was implemented with the 2019 and 2020 graduating medical school classes during the Gastrointestinal Systems course in the second year of our curriculum. The results of a survey revealed that, overall, a majority of the students agreed or strongly agreed that the activity increased engagement in class, increased the depth of discussion within their teams, increased the depth of discussion between teams, helped students to apply basic science concepts to the clinical material in the case, helped students better understand the disease processes described in the case, enhanced awareness of the complexity of patient care, provided an authentic learning experience, and elicited a feeling of empathy.

Comparison of case-based learning and traditional method in teaching postgraduate students of medical oncology

“…The case-based teaching method is beginning to be explored domestically after the 1990s and is being gradually applied to multiple subject fields of education. Over the past decade, the use of CBL in medical education has increased exponentially (Lee et al 2014;Dickinson et al 2018). The application of case teaching method to the teaching and research of oncology is less, and it is mostly a pure theoretical review.…”

“…This makes students lose motivation, lack self-study ability, and the combination of curriculum and clinical work is not close enough to train students' clinical thinking. The traditional teaching method has been shown to be less effective than other teaching strategies in practical application and critical thinking abilities (Ilkiw et al 2017;Dickinson et al 2018).…”

Physiology education for intensive care medicine residents: A 15-minute interactive peer-led flipped classroom session

“…Case-based and problem-based learning were also proposed. However, despite the advantages of a patient-centred approach to learning physiology [58,59], we decided on a teaching format that used a presentation focused on one specific topic to ensure a systematic curriculum independent of actual patients.…”

Effects on applying micro-film case-based learning model in pediatrics education

“…The rapid development of health care needs and the relative lag in comprehensive teaching modes have created higher requirements for the medical education system and greater challenges for medical educators. Previous studies have revealed the limitations of the traditional lecture-based learning (LBL) model with respect to problem-solving, collaborative learning, and lifelong learning strategies and have noted side effects such as decreased motivation and poor self-study, practical application and critical thinking abilities [7][8][9].…”