PHARMACOTHERAPEUTIC EDUCATION THROUGH PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING AND ITS IMPACT ON COGNITIVE AND MOTIVATIONAL ATTITUDE OF INDIAN STUDENTS

Objective. The cognitive and motivational attitudes to problem based l earning (i.e., simple didactic problem stated in written form and Prog rammed Patient) has been compared with those to didactic lectures (DL) , the traditional teaching method. The change in recall performance me asured in MCQ tests was considered as a change in the cognitive domain . The first test was conducted one week after completion of the topic and second test was taken 3 months later, without prior information. T he motivational change was recorded by open-ended questions about the learning method. Three groups of students at second MBBS professional year level consisting of 55, 57 and 59 people, were assigned a simple didactic problem stated in written form (SDP), programmed patients (PP ), and didactic lecture (DL), respectively. Results: The average score s obtained by the learners in problem based learning (PBL) groups were similar to the students in the DL group in both the tests. Most of th e students in PBL groups appreciated the exercise and suggested includ ing more such exercises in the curriculum. These exercises helped them to better understand patient problems and prescribing behaviour as we ll as in development of communication skills. However, these exercises were time consuming and were not examination oriented. Conclusion: Ph armacotherapeutic teaching through PBL could be used within a traditio nal curriculum to develop relevant and rational use of drugs, provided the evaluation method was also modified.