<p>Is the "new pathway" what it is called?</p>
<p>I'm talking about the "no tests-pass/fail-hands-on" education at medical school that schools like Harvard have. This kind of optional testing atmosphere kind of scares me.</p>
<p>Do you think it's better to alleviate the stress of studying for tests, or will a solid classroom education with grades prove better?</p>
<p>I'm sure learning hands on is great, but i'm scared about the idea of taking no tests, and never knowing how well i actually know the material.</p>
<p>Thoughts?</p>
<p>Yeah, it's a ridiculous curriculum. Hands-on is great, except that that's not really what they're doing; no tests is very tricky regardless. PBL is not really a "hand-on" curriculum. It's a bunch of kids sitting in a room with a faculty member who has been intentionally selected for not knowing anything about the subject with a piece of paper that describes some things they've never heard of.</p>
<p>First day of school:
Student #1: (reading) "Patient Smith presents at the ED -- "
Student #2: "What's an ED?"
(silence)
Student #3: "Maybe it's like an ER?"
Student #2: "Oh, like an emergency depot?"
Student #1: " -- with chest pain. His ECG's show ST-elevation -- "
Student #2: "His what show what?"
Student #3: "ECG, electrocerebrogram. My uncle's a pediatrician."
Student #2: "So what's an ST?"
Student #4: "Why would you get a head scan if he has chest pain?"
Student #2: "Maybe it's an electro-chest-gram?"</p>
<p>That's hilarious.</p>
<p>To be fair to PBL after going through a couple weeks of resident conference while on surgery, they've used a format for their Mortality and Morbidity cases that is somewhat similar to PBL. </p>
<p>That said, I still can't imagine having nothing but PBL to teach me all that I've learned over the past two years...</p>
<p>I mean, the format makes sense... once you have your MD, or maybe even after your second year of medical school. It's also a nice complement to a traditional education.</p>
<p>But on its own? Solo? It's absurd. It's an absurd way to learn.</p>
<p>Is there a list of PBL using schools somewhere? The MSAR isn't clear on this for a lot of schools and this is something I do NOT want in a medical education...</p>
<p>PBL is in every med schools' curriculum. Some schools heavy in PBL: Harvard, Cornell (Weill), University of Pittsburgh, Tufts, UCSF, Northwestern</p>
<p>Mine has none whatsoever. But some PBL's not that big a deal. The major problem is when it's your exclusive mode of learning. This is very rare, although I believe Harvard's NP is exclusively PBL.</p>
<p>Add University of Missouri-Columbia to that list too. I think they've gradually added lecture, but PBL is still the predominate form of learning. Don't quote me on that.</p>