The PBL teaching method in Neurology Education in the Traditional Chinese Medicine undergraduate students: An Observational Study

Abstract

Abstract Background and Objective: To study the effect of the Problem Based Learning (PBL) method in Neurology education for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) undergraduate students. Methods: In this observational study was conducted 2020/02 and 2020/04 intake the year three TCM undergraduate students of the School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xiamen University Malaysia. A total of 86 were enrolled in this study. They were randomly divided into conventional learning groups and PBL groups. Students who missed more than one session of the course and those who did not complete the questionnaires in the evaluation periods were excluded from the study (n=0). An independent sample t-test was used to compare the results between the two groups. A p-value <0.05 was considered significant. Results: The PBL group was significantly effective for the students’ theoretical and clinical practical examination scores, the satisfaction of teaching level, students’ perspectives, and self-learning skills, as well as significantly higher Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure (DREEM) scores than students who participated with the conventional group (p<0.05). Conclusion: The PBL teaching method in Neurology education for TCM undergraduate students can involve an interesting learning method, significantly improve their learning performance, and the ability to analyze the problem-solving skills in the neurology disease and its management knowledge.