The What or the How: a Review of Teaching Tools and Methods in Medical Education

Abstract

Medicine is a field that has evolved through the ages and continues to do so with the advancement of basic, clinical, and technological sciences. Accordingly, the roles and requirements of the medical doctor have also been subject to evolution. It is basically based on the need to develop effective and adaptable graduates that can tackle new problems as they arise in an ever-changing environment, which shifted the emphasis of medical education to the acquirement of generic skills, competency-based learning, and recognition for an increasing level of student autonomy. Medical education and its tools, the foundation upon which physicians base their competence in practice, have as a result, had to adapt to meet the ever growing demands of the profession. This review aims at (a) identifying teaching tools such as lecture-based learning, case-based learning, problem-based learning, team-based learning, flipped classrooms, and blended learning and (b) bringing to attention their development, purpose and how they compare in medical education in North America through time. © 2016, International Association of Medical Science Educators.