Problem-based learning improves the academic performance of medical students in South Africa

OBJECTIVES: To compare the academic performance of students on the previous, classical, discipline- and lecture-based, traditional curriculum with that of subsequent students who followed an innovative, problem- and community-based curriculum. METHODS: This was a retrospective study that analysed the records of students who enrolled on the doctor training programme between 1985 and 1995, and the records of students who graduated from the programme between 1989 and 2002. OUTCOMES: The educational outcomes assessed were the attrition and graduation rates on the traditional curriculum and those on the innovative curriculum. RESULTS: A total of 149 students on the traditional curriculum and 145 students on the innovative curriculum were studied. Overall, 23% of the traditional cohort as opposed to 10.3% of the innovative cohort dropped out of the course (P = 0.0041) and 55% of the traditional cohort as opposed to 67% of the innovative cohort graduated within the minimum period of 6 years (P < 0.001). The mean throughput period was 6.71 (0.09) years in the traditional cohort and 6.44 (0.07) years in the innovative cohort (P = 0.014) CONCLUSION: The introduction of the problem-based learning/community-based education (PBL/CBE) curriculum coincided with improved academic performance. The PBL/CBE approach to medical education may have contributed to this improvement.