Advantages of using the multiple case method at the clinical stage of medical education

The multiple case method is an uncomplicated form of discussion learning. Its primary objective is to make students familiar with knowledge already presented to them in lectures and written material. For each session, a large number of situations within a theme are described in handouts. After individual preparatory work, a group of 20-40 (-60) students cooperates to reach understanding and acceptable handling. The main tasks of the teacher are to stimulate the discussion and detect misunderstandings. In a course on infectious diseases, we have successfully used this method of teaching on a large scale for more than a decade. During 24 consecutive runs of the course, with a total of approximately 500 students over a 6-year period, the method was consistently rated high by the students. The long-term persistence of this method can be attributed not only to its learning value but also to the fact that it is simple and easy to practise with relatively large groups of students, thereby decreasing the risk of teachers' burnout.