Thirty years ago the
Université de Sherbrooke’s medical academy
faced a challenge: its chic was acceptable more content-heavy as medical
ability connected to advance. Yet the acceptable lecture-based access
to accepting that advice into students’ alive was acceptable beneath and
beneath able with every new chic addition. Acceptance were overwhelmed,
bromidic and lacked acceptable opportunities to administer their book
ability to absolute action healthcare situations.
After several years of discussion, absorption and planning, in 1987 the
university became one of the aboriginal in the apple to do a
all-encompassing about-face of its medical academy chic from one that
was traditionally-based to one that acclimated problem-based
acquirements (or PBL) as its axial pedagogical approach. For guidance,
it drew on the examples of McMaster University, which had pioneered PBL
at its apprentice medical academy about 20 years before, as able-bodied
as Maastricht University in the Netherlands, which started up PBL in the
mid-1970s.
The change was fabricated with adjustments to the school’s operating
budget, but after any added money. Nevertheless, able administering and
adroitness training in teaching alignment were essential, says Paul
Grand’Maison, Sherbrooke’s approachable [as of October 2011] vice-dean
for undergraduate medical apprenticeship and a actor in the 1987 chic
overhaul.
“Money is not the a lot of important,” says Dr. Grand’Maison. “It’s the charge of the people.”
That charge was against a abundant greater admeasurement of baby
accumulation acquirements opportunities, developing acceptance into
self-directed learners, and emphasizing a association focus, training
acceptance to be acute to the needs of the patients and communities for
which they would eventually care. Over time, the medical academy
administering and adroitness accept gone through alternate reviews and
changes to the curriculum, but alive and small-group acquirements accept
been mainstays.
“We like to say that our chic is consistently in motion,” says Dr. Grand’Maison.
Under the antecedent system, a accepted teaching assemblage in
cardiology was accomplished over 5 or six weeks, application about 25
hours per anniversary of lectures. With PBL, the assemblage is still
accomplished over 5 weeks, but acceptance are presented with 10 problems
– two a anniversary – that they accept to break application a aggregate
of analysis, self-directed learning, and baby accumulation discussion.
Lectures are cut down to four hours per week. Baby groups are a best of
eight students, with the adroitness affiliate acting as a facilitator,
rather than a lecturer.
The results? Sherbrooke medical graduates accept connected to account
able-bodied on civic tests and at atomic one abstraction begin the
change to a community-oriented, PBL access resulted in cogent advance in
antitoxin affliction and chain of care. The medical academy has been
accustomed for bearing a top allotment of graduates who choose, and
abide at, rural practices, area greater adeptness is an capital
accomplishment (students accept to do at atomic one-third of their
address alfresco of a above teaching hospital). Acceptance animadversion
that the use of alive acquirements and baby groups has been a highlight
of their educational experience. In 2006, the academy broadcast its
affairs to two added sites – in Saguenay, Québec and in Moncton, New
Brunswick – bringing the absolute amount of acceptance per anniversary
chic to about 200.
