CASE-BASED COMPUTER SIMULATIONS IN MEDICAL PHARMACOLOGY SMALL GROUP LEARNING

Karen Woodfork, Christopher Van Dyke, and David J. Smith, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 26506 U.S.A.

Purpose

In our medical pharmacology course, small group sessions provide a forum for active learning, problem solving, and interaction among students and faculty. Historically, these sessions have been less popular with students than lectures, being perceived as “low-impact” learning at a time when students are concerned with preparation for the USMLE Step 1 (the last nine weeks of the basic science curriculum). In response, we developed computer simulations to promote active learning in a format we believed students would accept more readily.

Methods

We developed three case-based computer simulations as collaborations between clinical and basic sciences faculty and an instructional technology specialist. These simulations allow students to diagnose and prescribe drugs to treat the patient, monitor for drug efficacy and side effects, and adjust the prescription accordingly. In some cases, the prescription must be adjusted as the disease progresses. The simulations were provided to students in different ways: run by each student individually during class, run in groups of ten, run individually outside of class time, and run in pairs during small group.

Results

Students were most satisfied when they ran the computer simulations in pairs during small group time with a faculty facilitator floating among the groups to provide guidance. A brief summary discussion involving the entire small group followed. Faculty also reported the greatest satisfaction with student interactions using this format.

Conclusion

Computer simulations can be used to integrate active learning into a medical pharmacology curriculum with a high degree of student satisfaction, dependent upon presentation format.