Housestaff attitudes toward a problem based clerkship

Problem-based learning (PBL) sessions for students were recently incorporated into the third-year Internal Medicine Clerkship at the University of Kentucky. It was of interest to know how this addition would affect the educational experience of the housestaff. Therefore, in February 1994, 53 Internal Medicine housestaff were surveyed on their attitudes towards the PBL-oriented Internal Medicine Clerkship. It was found that housestaff perceived the clerkship change negatively. Housestaff believed that the new curriculum interfered with student participation on the ward team and with their ability to teach students. Housestaff strongly believed that students learn clinical medicine best on ward teams seeing patients rather than through PBL.