Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Problem-Solving Before Instruction (PS-I): A Protocol for Assessment and Intervention in Students with Different Abilities
Published on: September 11, 2021
Successful use of problem-based learning in a third-year pediatric clerkship
J A Curtis1, D Indyk, B Taylor
1Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA. curtis@aecom.yu.edu
Objective:
To determine the effect of changing from lectures to a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum on student knowledge accrual and satisfaction with the didactic portion of a clerkship.
Design:
Study of cohorts before and after PBL introduction and in comparison with unchanged medicine clerkship.
Setting:
Third-year pediatric clerkship at 5 clinical sites.
Participants:
The PBL curriculum was introduced in the 1996 academic year. The 2 classes before the intervention served as historic controls (n = 319), whereas the 2 classes after PBL served as the intervention group (n = 320).
Intervention:
Small groups of students worked through 6 PBL cases representing common pediatric illnesses.
Main Outcome Measures:
Knowledge was assessed with the pediatric and internal medicine subject examination of the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME); student satisfaction was assessed by an anonymous end-of-rotation questionnaire.
Results:
Scores on the pediatric subject examination improved significantly from means of 69.2 and 70.0 in the historic control group to 73.6 and 74.2 in the PBL cohort (P <.01). Scores on the internal medicine subject exam during the same time periods remained unchanged until the second year after the change (69.1 and 70.2, respectively, before the change; 70.1 and 72.4, respectively, after the change). Analysis of variance results indicated a significant increase in pediatric subject examination scores associated with the introduction of PBL (P <.01). Overall student satisfaction with the pre-PBL lecture series was 3.3, whereas PBL sessions received a score of 4.3.
Conclusion:
Use of PBL in a clinical clerkship was associated with higher scores on the NBME subject examination and increased student satisfaction. These results should encourage the use of PBL during the clinical years.
Related Concept Videos
Nursing Process for Patient and Caregiver Teaching I: Assessment and Diagnosis
It is critical to determine the patient's learning needs during the assessment. Determination of learning needs compounds data from the...
Patient-centered Care
Critical Thinking II
Methods of Documentation II: POMR
Methods of Documentation III: PIE

