Abstract
Objectives: To assess medical students' perception about problem based learning (PBL)
Study Design: Descriptive cross-sectional survey
Setting: College of Medicine, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University (PNU), Riyadh, KSA
Subjects: Second year medical students who attended fifteen or more PBL sessions
Intervention: Students were voluntarily invited to fill a self-administered questionnaire comprising 15 close-ended questions with a 5-point Likert scale responses
Main Outcome Measures: Student's perceptions and opinions
Results: Overall, students had a positive perception towards all the items; self-learning, critical thinking, integration of basic concepts into clinical science, identifying gaps in knowledge and improved problem solving skills. The mean value of all items was 19.77 +/- 2.61 out of 25. Students who were satisfied with PBL were 59%. Almost 83% of students perceived that PBL stimulates critical thinking and 90.4% agreed that PBL integrates basic science with clinical knowledge. Although 73.1% of students found that PBL motivates self-learning, majority disagreed about increasing the frequency of PBL. Also, most of students were against increasing marks allocated for the assessment of PBL. Almost three quarters of students realized the value of PBL in improving communication skills and interpersonal relations. Students who thought that PBL is a preferable teaching tool for clinical concepts amounted to 69.2%.
Conclusion: Overall, students perceived PBL positively. While positive perception was maximum for integration of basic science into clinical knowledge and critical thinking, it was least for identification of knowledge gap and problem solving. Students also valued PBL in enhancing communication skills and promoting positive interpersonal relations. However, majority of students disagreed to have more frequent PBL sessions or to increase PBL exam marks.