The outcome evaluation between two different curriculum: students' retention capacity based on comparative study in...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Pathology Curriculum Development
• Student Knowledge Retention

Background:

• Effective curriculum design is crucial for optimizing student learning outcomes in clinical pathology.
• Understanding the long-term impact of different pedagogical approaches is essential for medical educators.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the effectiveness of two distinct clinical pathology curricula based on student knowledge retention.
• To identify curriculum characteristics that enhance long-term recall of medical information.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 280 students in a clinical pathology course.
• A retention test (25 multiple-choice questions) administered 5 months post-course.
• Statistical analysis using Mann-Whitney U-test to compare retention scores between two curriculum groups.

Main Results:

• The first group (n=138) achieved a higher average retention score (10.93±3.57) compared to the second group (n=142; 8.56±3.19).
• This difference in retention scores was statistically significant (p<0.00001).
• The curriculum with longer duration and more parallel courses was associated with superior retention.

Conclusions:

• Curriculum structure, including duration and breadth, significantly influences students' long-term retention of clinical pathology knowledge.
• Further investigation across various medical courses is recommended to validate curriculum effectiveness for knowledge retention.