Study of the viewpoint of Medical Interns and Externs toward Using Problem- based Learning Method in Cardiac Ward, Birjand 2011

Background: In the present study, we studied the clinical students’ viewpoints toward traditional and case study training methods. Methods: This analytical descriptive study was conducted in cardiac ward of ValiAsr Hospital in Birjand from 1389 to 1390. 5 training sessions in the form of case presentation were held during a one-month course in cardiac ward. The trainer prepared a PowerPoint file of a common disease before the start of the class. At the beginning of the discussion a clinical symptom was presented then students asked questions about the history, previous records, par clinical signs, and etc. based on the mentioned symptom and the trainer presented them. At the end of the     discussion differential diagnosis and final diagnosis were presented and treatment of the disease was discussed. At the end of the course a researcher made questionnaire including 10 questions in the case of comparing the above mentioned method and the common clinical teaching method was distributed among students. Then data was coded and analyzed by SPSS. Results: During this one year, 40 externs and 30 interns (50 females and 20 males) were trained through case study method in cardiac ward and the average score of the viewpoints of all students was 42.20±5.36 out of 50 which shows that students have a positive point of view to case study method compared with the traditional method. There was not a significant difference between the viewpoints of male and female students in any of the ten mentioned fields. The score of the externs’ viewpoint in all the fields was higher than interns’, but this difference was just significant in the case of deep learning (4.1±0.8 in interns, 4.6±0.5 , P=0.016). Conclusions: The results of the study showed that students had a positive viewpoint toward clinical training through case study and this method can be used as a new educational method alongside other methods.