The core course in medical microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine

During the past five years at Baylor College of Medicine student performance in microbiology, as measured by scores on the examination of the National Board of Medical Examiners, has improved from less (mean of 78 percent) than the national average of 80+ percent to considerably greater than the national average (mean of 85 percent). Only about one-half the time usually given to microbiology is allotted to the course at Baylor (107 hours). Principal features of the course are annually revised lecture handouts, medically oriented laboratory sessions with a manual written especially for the course, and clinical demonstrations of infectious disease. The pattern of performance in the microbiology course did not occur in two other basic science courses at Baylor. The improvement in performance appeared to be related to the course format, increased teaching proficiency, and the allocation of hours to the various subdisciplines.