ABSTRACT
Background: Clinical reasoning is an important skill required in medical education to help students to address problems of the patients. Conventional didactic teaching approaches may not be able to develop this skill but problem-based learning (PBL) has been suggested to be an interactive and student-centered method that could develop critical thinking and decision-making skills.
Aim: This study was carried out with the intention of assessing the effect of PBL on the medical students` clinical reasoning skills.
Methods: This was a prospective observational study carried out at the Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad from May 2024 to April 2025. The total medical students who made up the sample of the study were 90. There were two groups of participants, namely, divided. One got conventional lecture-based teaching and the other took part in PBL classes. Clinical reasoning skills were measured before and after the intervention with the help of a validated Clinical Reasoning Skills Assessment Tool. Appropriate statistical methods were used to make comparative analysis between the two groups.
Results: Comparison of the groups exposed to PBL and that exposed to traditional teaching with regard to clinical reasoning scores revealed statistically significant improvement among the PBL group (p < 0.05). The PBL group of students showed improvement in problem identification, data interpretation, differential diagnosis, and clinical decision making. Another reservation of participants turned out to be positive as well due to higher satisfaction of its PBL format and increased level of engagement during sessions.
Conclusion: Problem-Based Learning (PBL) was beneficial to the clinical reasoning abilities of medical students. The results are consistent with including PBL in undergraduate medical programs as a helpful pedagogical factor for improving students’ critical thinking and clinical decision-making skills.
Keywords: Problem-Based Learning, Clinical Reasoning, Medical Education, Student Engagement, Teaching Methods, PBL, Undergraduate Medical Curriculum.