Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Effectiveness of Engaged Learning: 8 Years of TBL in Internal Medicine and Psychiatry Clerkships

  • Original Research
  • Published:
Medical Science Educator Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine (WSU BSOM) has a long track record of utilizing team-based learning (TBL) as a primary pedagogy during the pre-clinical years of medical school. Due to its success, select clerkship directors incorporated TBL into the third year. This study investigates whether the incorporation of TBL into clerkship curricula is associated with improved scores on end-of-clerkship National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) subject examinations.

Methods

For the eight-year period of 2007–2008 through 2014–2015 at WSU BSOM, two TBL clerkships and three teacher-centered clerkships were compared to national performance on NBME end-of-clerkship test scores. The paired t test was used to compare results to national scores.

Results

For the eight-year period, students in the two TBL clerkships scored higher than corresponding national samples on the end-of-clerkship NBME test (internal medicine: 80.21 ± 0.37 vs. 77.16 ± 0.46, p < 0.001; psychiatry: 81.73 ± 0.95 vs. 79.56 ± 0.86, p < 0.001).

Conclusions

BSOM student performance on both the internal medicine and psychiatry NBME exams has been above the national mean since the inception of TBL into those curricula while three teacher-centered clerkships showed no difference. A TBL curriculum provides sustained improvement in knowledge-based performance.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Tucker B. The flipped classroom. Educ Next. 2012;12(1):82–3.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Michaelsen L, Parmelee D, McMahon K, Levin R. Team-based learning for health professions education: a guide to using small groups for improving learning. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing; 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Haidet P, O’Mallery KJ, Richards B. An initial experience with “team learning” in medical education. Acad Med. 2002;77:40–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Searle NS, Haidet P, Kelly PA, Schneider VF, Seidel CL, Richards BF. Team learning in medical education: initial experiences at ten institutions. Acad Med. 2003;78(10 Suppl):S55–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Fatmi M, Hartling L, Hillir T, Campbell S, Oswald AE. The effectiveness of team-based learning on learning outcomes in health professions education: BEME guide no. 30. Med Teach. 2013;35:e1608–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Koles P, Nelson S, Stolfi A, Parmelee D, DeStephen D. Active learning in a year two pathology curriculum. Med Educ. 2005;39(10):1045–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Nieder GL, Parmelee DX, Stolfi A, Hudes PD. Team-based learning in a medical gross anatomy and embryology course. Clin Anat. 2005;18(1):56–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Koles PG, Stolfi A, Borges NJ, Neslon S, Parmelee DX. The impact of team-based learning on medical students’ academic performance. Acad Med. 2010;85(11):1739–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Zgheib NK, Simaan JA, Sabra R. Using team-based learning to teach pharmacology to second year medical students improves student performance. Med Teach. 2010;32(2):130–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Levine RE, O'Boyle M, Haidet P, Lynn DJ, Stone MM, Wolf DV, Paniagua FA. Transforming a clinical clerkship with team learning. Teach Learn Med. 2004;16(3):270–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Briscoe GW, Fore-Arand L, Levine RE, Carlson DL, Spollen JJ, Pelic C, Al-Mateen CS. Psychiatry clerkship students’ preparation, reflection and results on the NME Psychiatry Subject Exam. Acad Psychiatry. 2009;33:23–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Spollen J, Cluver J. An approach to improving psychiatry NBME and USMLE performance. Acad Psychiatry. 2013;37(3):207–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Warrier KS, Schiller JH, Frei NR, Haftel HM, Christner JG. Long-term gain after team-based learning experience in a pediatric clerkship. Teach Learn Med. 2013;25(4):300–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Saudek K, Treat R. Team-based learning on a third-year pediatric clerkship improves NBME subject exam blood disorder scores. Med Educ Online. 2015;20:29021.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Friedlander MJ, Andrews L, Armstrong EG, Aschenbrenner C, Kass JS, Ogden P, Schwartzstein R, Viggiano TR. What can medical education learn from the neurobiology of learning? Acad Med. 2011;86(4):415–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. What is the IF-AT? [Internet]. Cincinnati: Epstein Educational Enterprises; [cited 2016 March 4] Available from: http://www.epsteineducation.com/home/about/

  17. Sweet M, Michaelsen LK. How group dynamics research can inform the theory and practice of postsecondary small group learning. Educ Psychol Rev. 2007;19:31–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Van Meter P, Steven RJ. The role of theory in the study of peer collaboration. J Exp Educ. 2000;69(1):113–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Kelly WF, Papp KK, Torre D, Hemmer PA. How and why internal medicine clerkship directors use locally developed, faculty-written examinations: results of a national survey. Acad Med. 2012;87(7):924–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Smith ER, Dinh TV, Anderson G. A decrease from 8 to 6 weeks in obstetrics and gynecology clerkship: effect on medical students’ cognitive knowledge. Obstet Gynecol. 1995;86(3):458–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Case SM, Ripkey DR, Swanson DB. The effects of psychiatry clerkship timing and length on measures of performance. Acad Med. 1997;72(10):S34–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Ripkey DR, Case SM, Swanson DB. 1997. Predicting performances on the NBME surgery subject test and USMLE step 2: the effects of surgery clerkship timing and length. Acad med. 72(10 Suppl 1):S31-

  23. Niedermier J, Way D, Kasick D, Kuperschmidt R. Effect of curriculum change on exam performance in a 4-week psychiatry clerkship. Acad Psychiatry. 2010;34(3):216–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Bostwick JM, Alexander C. Shorter psychiatry clerkship length is associated with lower NBME psychiatry shelf exam performance. Acad Psychiatry. 2012;36(3):174–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Ouyang W, Cuddy MM, Swanson DB. US medical student performance on the NBME subject examination in internal medicine: do clerkship sequence and clerkship length matter? J Gen Intern Med. 2015;30(9):1307–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Scott Richardson, the clerkship director of Internal Medicine at BSOM from 2006 to 2009 who converted the didactic curriculum to TBL, Karen Kirkham, IM clerkship director from 2009 to 2015 who continued with the TBL curriculum, and Ronald Markert and Adrienne Stolfi for their helpful review of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, Dayton, OH, USA

    Brenda Roman, Colleen Hayden & Dean Parmelee

Authors
  1. Brenda Roman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Colleen Hayden
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Dean Parmelee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brenda Roman.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Funding Information

No funding was given for this study.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Roman, B., Hayden, C. & Parmelee, D. The Effectiveness of Engaged Learning: 8 Years of TBL in Internal Medicine and Psychiatry Clerkships. Med.Sci.Educ. 27, 475–479 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-017-0412-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-017-0412-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation