Application of literature case presentation and discussion in teaching of clinical epidemiology for professional Master students

Abstract

Objective To strengthen the research capacity of professional Master students in clinical medicine,a new teaching mode of literature case presentation and discussion was tried in clinical epidemiology teaching and the teaching effectiveness was evaluated. Methods The professional Master students in clinical medicine of Peking Union Medical College who joined clinical epidemiology courses during 2019—2021 were selected as the research subjects(n=128). In 2019, the lecture-based teaching was adopted. In 2020 and 2021, a 4-hour literature case presentation and discussion class was added for the topic of “cohort study”. Feedback on the new teaching mode was collected through questionnaires from students taking the course in 2021. Results The average per-question score rate across all questions in the final examination for a student in 2020 was higher than that in 2019 (the median value was 84.7% vs 75.4%, P＜0.001). There was no statistical difference in the average per-question score rate across questions related to the cohort study topic for a student between the two years. Students′ score ratefor the case presentation and discussion in 2020 was positively correlated with the average per-question score rate for not only questions related to the cohort study topic but also all questions in the final examination(r=0.40, P＜0.01; r=0.31, P＜0.05). Among the students taking the course in 2021, 80% believed that they had achieved the knowledge-learning goal of this case discussion class. About 90% agreed that the teaching mode of literature case presentation and discussion was helpful in improving their ability in designing clinical research, reading literatures, presenting research work and carrying out team collaboration. All students were satisfied with this new teaching mode. Conclusions Conducting literature case presentation supplemented with discussion in clinical epidemiology teaching can help students better to Master clinical research methodology and enhance their comprehensive research capacity.

Keywords

• epidemiology|teaching methods|professional master of clinical medicine|case-based learning|research ability