What is a PBL course?

Problem Based Learning (PBL) is a type of course structure that is used by some medical schools in the UK. It is thought of as being a more modern way of learning that is much more self-directed than the traditional type of medical course which is mainly focused on lecture based teaching. In a PBL medical course, at the start of each week you will be presented with a clinical scenario which you will study for the whole of that week. On the first day you will formulate a series of learning outcomes that you aim to have covered by the end of the week with your PBL group and on the last day you will come back together to discuss what you have learnt. All of your lectures, anatomy, consultation skills etc. during the week will be relevant to your case and each group is supervised by a tutor to keep them on track. PBL is good in that it encourages group work, helps you to apply your learning to a clinical case to prepare you for later years and allows you to develop methods of self-directed study right from the beginning of university. However it does also have some negatives. Each week, you will not be taught 100% of the content that you need to know to cover your case so some of this reading must be done in your own time and you have to be very self-motivated to do well. This course style works really well for some people but not so well for others so it is important to think about if it would work for you when choosing which medical schools to apply to. Most medical schools run an integrated programme in which they combine the elements of a traditional course with a PBL course so it is important to do your research to find out which are best suited to you.