The effect of implementing undergraduate competency-based medical education on students’ knowledge acquisition, clinical performance and perceived preparedness for practice: a comparative study

BMC Medical Education

Janke Cohen-Schotanus¹  Elisabeth A van Hell²  Jos W Snoek²  Wouter Kerdijk¹ 

[1] Center for Research and Innovation in Medical Education, University of Groningen and University Medical Center Groningen, Ant. Deusinglaan 1, FC40, 9713 AV, Groningen, The Netherlands;Institute for Medical Education, University of Groningen and University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

关键词: Progress test;    Self-efficacy;    Clinical performance;    Active learning;    Curriculum comparison;    Curriculum development;    Competence;    Undergraduate medical education;    Competency-based education;    Medical education;   

Others  :  1138908
DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6920-13-76

 received in 2012-11-01, accepted in 2013-05-22,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

Little is known about the gains and losses associated with the implementation of undergraduate competency-based medical education. Therefore, we compared knowledge acquisition, clinical performance and perceived preparedness for practice of students from a competency-based active learning (CBAL) curriculum and a prior active learning (AL) curriculum.

Methods

We included two cohorts of both the AL curriculum (n = 453) and the CBAL curriculum (n = 372). Knowledge acquisition was determined by benchmarking each cohort on 24 interuniversity progress tests against parallel cohorts of two other medical schools. Differences in knowledge acquisition were determined comparing the number of times CBAL and AL cohorts scored significantly higher or lower on progress tests. Clinical performance was operationalized as students’ mean clerkship grade. Perceived preparedness for practice was assessed using a survey.

Results

The CBAL cohorts demonstrated relatively lower knowledge acquisition than the AL cohorts during the first study years, but not at the end of their studies. We found no significant differences in clinical performance. Concerning perceived preparedness for practice we found no significant differences except that students from the CBAL curriculum felt better prepared for ‘putting a patient problem in a broad context of political, sociological, cultural and economic factors’ than students from the AL curriculum.

Conclusions

Our data do not support the assumption that competency-based education results in graduates who are better prepared for medical practice. More research is needed before we can draw generalizable conclusions on the potential of undergraduate competency-based medical education.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Kerdijk et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

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