Hi Cheshyre,
Any pros and cons about that case-based curriculum that you wouldn't mind sharing with the rest of us? What you do like and don't like about it and any suggestions to the new class on handling the way the curriculum is set up? Thanks for all your input; you've been a great help! 🙂
Pros:
1) Extremely high retention of information. It's a game - patient comes in with symptoms you know nothing about. Petechiae? Hematuria? You go searching through databases, textbooks, whatever you can to find the info. When you find it, it will stick.
2) It's fun. Case-based learning turns studying into a game. You've got a patient who's coming in with weird stuff - fatigue, a fever that comes and goes, and weird little things in their red blood cells. If you were the doctor in charge of this patient, would you have the ability to take care of them?
3) Don't worry - everybody gets their information standardized. Self-study days and lecture days alternate. For the first day, you'll study the cases and figure them out. On the next day (lecture), you'll sit down for a quiz and then have a prof lecture to you on the cases. They'll show you what to focus on and you'll learn about anything you missed / got wrong.
4) As I said before, case-based learning isn't new. It's done at tons of schools around the nation (both DO and MD, including top ten medical schools) and has been done officially for at least two years at Western. My point is that it's not untested, nor is it a money issue since schools with more dollars than they can spend have case-based courses built into their curriculum.
Cons:
0)
{this isn't really a con, but I thought it needed to be mentioned} Case-based learning is a pretty big departure from the traditional teaching methods that we grew up on. It's absolutely okay to be concerned about it. It is not, however, okay to dismiss it when you know nothing about it. That's referred to as "ignorance."
1) It sucks at first. Most of us (if not all) have never gone through this kind of teaching style. It does take a few days to adjust. Some people are able to adjust within the first night. Some need a couple of days.
2) It takes a lot of reading and time. If you're a fast reader, good at picking out important details, or have ADHD, it might actually be easier for you than regular lecture. If you're a slower reader, this style of teaching may be somewhat painful. That said, I have friends who are slower readers and did great.
3) Case-based learning really shines only when you have a good group. It's ideal to have a small group like in House (the show) where you can get together after working on the cases alone. You bounce ideas off each other, learn about different paths that other people looked into, etc, etc. It sounds dumb on paper but works shockingly well in real life. HOWEVER - having a bad group will make this really, really painful. It's not a big deal though because you're allowed to join or form any group you want. A few people choose to work alone. I tried it and found it to be a viable option, but, I don't think it's very efficient.
Anyway.
There was a lot of grumbling at first. Lots of people in the class thought that it was going to be a huge waste of time. I also heard the "we're paying tuition to teach ourselves" statement a couple times as well. By the end though, the general attitude was positive and the class average on the exams was really high. It's not suitable for all of the courses you'll take in med school, but, it's also not being used for all of the courses.
The best advice I can give is to go into it with an open mind. Time complaining is just time wasted. Everything has pros and cons. Being able to adjust quickly to whatever gets thrown at you means that you can take advantage of the pros and learn to dodge the cons earlier. Try to have some fun along the way.
Also - congratulations to those of you who've gotten into the class of 2015. For those who are still waiting, keep your chin up and don't stop trying to improve your application. There are people who made it into the school during Welcome Week. If the rejection letter isn't in your mailbox, you have a chance.
