Task-based learning (TBL) in undergraduate medical education

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a proven method to learn medicine during the first years of studies. In the clinical phase the active, self-directive student may experience difficulties in adapting to the life of professionals in health care units, where students usually have to attend and work according to preplanned timetables. Task-based learning (TBL) can serve as an intermediary in the meeting of these two cultures. Here we describe a TBL study module for fourth-year medical students and experiences of implementing it at the University of Tampere in Finland. Eighty-five students participated in this study in 1998 and 1999. Our results show that this method works and that it leads to learning. Students evaluate their skills connected with the general practitioner's work in a health centre hospital as better after the study module than at the onset.