The effectiveness of integrated teaching over traditional teaching among first year MBBS students: A preliminary Study

Background: Medicine is not grasped as a whole subject by the students. Also, the teaching creates disinterest among the students to learn the subject. Teaching basic sciences in different blocks gives no chance for the student to correlate and integrate the knowledge what they had gained. Aim: To assess the effectiveness of the integrated teaching method over the conventional method of teaching among the first year MBBS students. Materials and Methods: A prospective study was done on 100 first year MBBS students of VMKV Medical College, Salem, during April 2012. The students were divided into two groups on a random basis, with 50 in each group. The first group students underwent the conventional type of teaching and for the other group, integrated teaching was practiced. Finally, an evaluation test was conducted for both the groups and the mean marks obtained by the students were analyzed by using unpaired "t" test. Results: The total marks (out of 30) in conventional teaching method was found to be 15.40 ± 4.62, and in integrated teaching method it was 21.8 ± 4.48. So, the marks obtained by students after integrated method were found to be higher than the marks obtained after conventional teaching and this difference was found to be statistically significant (P < 0.0001). Conclusion: The integrated teaching was found to be an effective method of teaching than the traditional conventional method in terms of students′ performance in assessment examinations