Interstitial Lung Disease: Comparing Lecture and Large Group Case-Based Learning for Preclinical Medical Students.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Respiratory Medicine
• Active Learning Strategies

Background:

• Interstitial lung disease (ILD) presents a significant learning challenge for preclinical medical students.
• Case-based learning (CBL) may enhance critical thinking and clinical reasoning for complex topics like ILD.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of team-based case-based learning (TB-CBL) versus lecture-based learning (LBL) for teaching ILD to preclinical medical students.
• To assess student satisfaction with the TB-CBL approach for ILD education.

Main Methods:

• Replaced traditional lecture-based learning with a large-group TB-CBL session covering ILD etiology, presentation, imaging, pathophysiology, and management.
• Compared final exam performance on ILD questions between a cohort taught via LBL (Cohort A) and a cohort taught via TB-CBL (Cohort B).
• Assessed student satisfaction using an anonymous end-of-course survey with a 5-point Likert scale.

Main Results:

• Cohort B (TB-CBL) achieved higher mean scores on ILD-related final exam questions (85.4%) compared to Cohort A (LBL) (80.0%).
• Overall student satisfaction with the TB-CBL session was acceptable (mean score: 3.31), with high agreement on organization, contribution to learning, and value.
• Despite higher scores, student satisfaction was lower than expected.

Conclusions:

• TB-CBL is a potentially effective active learning method for improving preclinical medical students' understanding of ILD diagnosis and management.
• The TB-CBL approach resulted in superior academic performance compared to traditional lectures.
• Institutions can consider adapting this TB-CBL model to enhance ILD education for early-stage medical learners.