PBL course and an introvert

How much PBL is in ypur course? At Imperial we have 1 CBL module which I've enjoyed, but not sure if that is relevant to someone doing a completely PBL course like Manchester.

@A_J_B, @SyedN, @DGeorge13 - are any of your courses PBL heavy/any words of wisdom?

How much PBL is in ypur course? At Imperial we have 1 CBL module which I've enjoyed, but not sure if that is relevant to someone doing a completely PBL course like Manchester.

@A_J_B, @SyedN, @DGeorge13 - are any of your courses PBL heavy/any words of wisdom?

Pretty PBL heavy, I’d say. A session or two a week?

Thank you for the tag!

Nope my course isn't very PBL heavy but I did want to go to East Anglia initially which was quite PBL heavy and did go to the offer holders day and everything so I did get some insight into PBL heavy med courses. Others might be able to give you a lot info than me but I'll throw in what I learnt or saw from there and the 1 CBL case we did in my uni.

What I learnt was that even though it seems daunting at first you do ease into it with your group and are pretty close friends within a few week. Also you shouldn't feel like you have to talk a lot or talk all the time, just contribute whenever you think of something. At the end of the day PBL is whatever you put into so I would say try to contribute more in the group discussions, you don't have to be the most vocal or anything but slowly talk more and more.

What the university and students told me at UEA was if you're shy try to gain any volunteer work after you finish A Levels during the summer to firstly stop you from getting bored and secondly it will help build confidence.

I’ve firmed an offer for a PBL med course but I am quite quiet and introverted. I was wondering what PBL is actually like? Could any current med students give their insight? Due to Covid, the taster session was held online and done individually so I couldn’t get a proper insight. I’m quite worried about starting in Sep.

How much PBL is in ypur course? At Imperial we have 1 CBL module which I've enjoyed, but not sure if that is relevant to someone doing a completely PBL course like Manchester.

@A_J_B, @SyedN, @DGeorge13 - are any of your courses PBL heavy/any words of wisdom?

Thank you for the tag!

Nope my course isn't very PBL heavy but I did want to go to East Anglia initially which was quite PBL heavy and did go to the offer holders day and everything so I did get some insight into PBL heavy med courses. Others might be able to give you a lot info than me but I'll throw in what I learnt or saw from there and the 1 CBL case we did in my uni.

What I learnt was that even though it seems daunting at first you do ease into it with your group and are pretty close friends within a few week. Also you shouldn't feel like you have to talk a lot or talk all the time, just contribute whenever you think of something. At the end of the day PBL is whatever you put into so I would say try to contribute more in the group discussions, you don't have to be the most vocal or anything but slowly talk more and more.

What the university and students told me at UEA was if you're shy try to gain any volunteer work after you finish A Levels during the summer to firstly stop you from getting bored and secondly it will help build confidence.

That's pretty OK I'd say - some med schools do nothing but PBL. You might find it nicely breaks up the monotony of lectures

Obviously there will be some public speaking and discussion, but there's also research and self-study. Plus it's in the group's interests to get everyone involved. PBL is very dependant on if you get a nice group imo, which can be a problem But if you do I expect you'll find it's more like chatting with friends than intimidating work - I get on really well with my CBL group (I'm living with one of them next year) and the exams are almost fun by this point in the year.

It sounds like you're very keen to learn and make the absolute most of med school, just based on the fact you've made this thread, so I think you'll manage to succeed

PBL sessions are designed to develop your confidence in a safe setting before transitioning to the clinical setting where you will be doing case discussions with a lot more weight attached to them. And I don’t know of any medical course in the country that is completely PBL. It would be impossible, impracticable and insanely expensive for the medical school to facilitate this. From what I understand from the course I hope to attend next year, the PBL is essentially a framework for your lecture-based and independent learning where you apply the knowledge you gain over the course of a week to a real case, preparing you for the case discussions you’ll be doing in clinical years and in practice. In theory, facilitators are there to encourage participation from everyone and to make sure no one person comes to dominate a session and obviously the success of facilitators in doing so is bound to vary. But it’s important to develop these skills early and PBL is an almost ideal environment to do this.

The trust I work for recruits heavily from two medical schools, one of which is PBL based and the other of which is not. I dare say that it sometimes shows and the communication from the PBL based uni and the holistic thinking is often quite a bit more developed in the PBL based university doctors. In a rare private moment with the consultant when I told him I was thinking of studying medicine he told me that PBL is the best teaching development he’s seen in 40 years as a doctor. In his words, less obscure rubbish and more more practical values, by which he meant that in a specialty like his you need the skills of MDT working, collaboration, confident communication and initiative that PBL will encourage from an early stage far more than you do knowledge of rare and weird diseases that he spent his clinical years stuffing his brain with (his words again!). Certainly we in the wider team value doctors with these qualities and skills as well so I definitely see his point, although I imagine it’s not universally valuable across all medical specialties.

With regard to introvertedness being a barrier to PBL, let me point out this. I’ve seen junior doctors who are incredibly timid in handovers or MDT and don’t say a word. They’ll sometimes creep up soon or even long after it’s over and ask me or other members of the MDT what something we said meant. Sometimes the questions they ask make me cringe a little because they’ll sometimes reveal a long held misunderstanding that has potentially led to them making errors in their clinical practice. Then there’s others who’ll outspokenly interrupt a meeting to ask the same sort of question, derailing discussions and making the handover all about them and what they want to know. Neither is necessarily better or worse than the other although they can be roughly divided into introverted and extroverted camps. The more permanent staff always welcome questions and we’d rather a question came at us than it didn’t. Over time, they improve with confidence and they usually get to a point where they will confidently (and politely) ask appropriate questions at the right time and place. Just because you’re an introvert doesn’t mean you’re unsuited for a particular learning style. It just means you have different things to learn from it than someone who is more extroverted. And it’s all good preparation for the job you eventually have to do. So I recommend you embrace it and remember that participation doesn’t mean that you have to change your entire personality, nor does it mean you have to be terrified to speak or obliged to come up with something to say every session.

Hope this helps.

Our Med course at Birmingham is about 10% PBL. I'm not the most extroverted person but used to look forward to PBL Small Group Teaching sessions because of their interactive nature. And once you become good friends with your group it becomes even more enjoyable.


Thanks for the tag

I’m starting medicine at UEA in September which is a PBL course, I also studied nursing there previously which was also conducted in the same fashion with PBL sessions and lectures as well. You get given a case study in your PBL group, discuss and decide what everyone will research, have some lectures and anatomy sessions etc, then at the end of the week come back and present your topic to the rest of the group. As an introvert I did find it very nerve wracking to start with, even shaking etc, but did eventually get used to it, and developed ways to make it less intimidating eg. Doing interactive quizzes and things rather than PowerPoint presentations so I didn’t have to give long speeches. It got easier and I’m a bit nervous about going back to do it again but I think confidence will improve as we go along!

Hi! Thanks for this. Yes, I’m most nervous about presenting at the end of the week. However, I know that’s no something I can ever escape