Teaching and Learning Methods in Medicine

This book considers the evolution of medical education over the centuries, presents various theories and principles of learning, and discusses different forms of medical curriculum and the strategies employed to develop them, citing examples from medical schools in developed and developing nations. Instructional methodologies and tools for assessment and evaluation are discussed at length and additional elements of modern medical teaching, such as writing skills, communication skills, evidence-based medicine, medical ethics, skill labs, and webinars, are fully considered. In discussing these topics, the authors draw upon the personal experience that they have gained in learning, teaching, and disseminating knowledge in many parts of the world over the past four decades.

Medical education is an ancient philosophy originally taught through a process of apprenticeship and long association between tutor and pupil. Since the introduction of problem-based learning in the 1950s, the scientifically based traditional curriculum developed in the early twentieth century has met with fierce opposition. These conflicting andragogical and pedagogical perspectives, and the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains of learning, are explained and discussed in this book, which will be of interest for medical students, doctors, teachers, nurses, paramedics, and health and education planners.