Self-efficacy achieved through problem-based learning tutorial

Abstract

Positive self-esteem helps students build and maintain self-efficacies to affect later clinical practice. We examined the outcome of problem-based-learning (PBL) curriculum by evaluating self-efficacy in terms of sustained learning and clinical competencies among medical school graduates.
1) We compared practicing doctors who either had PBL tutorial experience or who had not by a questionnaire survey.
2) The subjects self-evaluated whether they had achieved expected abilities (1) at the end of undergraduate years, (2) during 2-year internship, and (3) at present.
3) Among 1, 502 doctors surveyed (response rate=36.0%), doctors with PBL tutorial experience had higher selfefficacy (odds ratio>2.1) in their clinical abilities than doctors without it, especially during the school years.
4) In the later 2 periods, doctors with PBL experience had higher self-efficacy in communication skills.
5) PBL tutorial foster self-efficacy in clinical abilities, especially in communication skills, during earlier clinical career.