Veterinary session

Case-based learning has expanded worldwide in medical education in the last decades. It has become an essential element of the acquisition of clinical reasoning. There is evidence that the medical students, who studied in a case based learning integrated curriculum, started their career with more self-confidence after graduation.

During my study I compared five different methods of case-based learning. The main goal of the study was to define which method is the most efficient and the most easily carried out or integrated into the medical schools’ curriculum. Both of tutors’ and students’ perceptions have been surveyed about the teaching methods.

One of the tested case demonstration types was the paper-based method, in which the students reached the final diagnosis through several cardinal learning points, which were built on each other. We examined the e-mail-based case demonstration as the second method and the third one was a HTML based virtual patient. As the fourth method we tested a full 3D, real time simulation model and finally a live patient used as a ‘virtual patient’ via role-playing.

At the end of the project the participant students had to evaluate these five methods by completing an online questionnaire concerning the effect on their professional self-confidence, development of clinical reasoning skills and emotional connection to the patient. The tutors who took part in the study, were asked on VETED 2013 conference in Dublin within the confines of a workshop.

In my research I attempted to assess the pathways of the improvement of the inland veterinarian education. I tried to focus on the acquirement of a higher level professional knowledge and clinical decision making skills. The results showed that the fidelity of the methods are directly proportional to the effect of the students’ technical self-confidence. However, the practicability of the more complicated methods raised several issues among the tutors.

Keywords: case-based learning, problem-based learning, medical education, virtual patient, simulation