• Xiding Yang, Zehua Yang, Sijia Ma, Miao Yan, and Yongyu Yang.
• Department of Pharmacy, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2024 Oct 11; 103 (41): e39376e39376.

BackgroundProblem-based learning (PBL) has been widely employed in pharmacology teaching. However, the benefits of PBL for undergraduate students have not been clearly demonstrated. We performed a meta-analysis to compare the effects of PBL and lecture-based learning (LBL) in undergraduate pharmacology education.MethodsWe systematically searched literature databases for comparative studies related to PBL pedagogy in the undergraduate pharmacology curriculum from the inception of the databases to December 2023. The obtained literature was screened according to the selection criteria, and Review Manager 5.4 was used for the meta-analysis of the included studies.ResultsA total of 33 comparative studies involving 4425 undergraduate students were enrolled. The standardized mean differences (95% confidence intervals) of the examination scores and students' self-rated scores on learning interest, comprehension of knowledge and thinking ability between PBL and LBL were calculated to be 2.03 (1.53-2.53), 0.50 (0.26-0.74), 0.69 (0.46-0.92), and 1.65 (1.21-2.09), respectively. The risk ratios of the proportion of satisfaction on improving students' learning interest, comprehension of knowledge, thinking ability, self-study ability, and communication skills were calculated to be 2.08 (1.17-3.71), 1.84 (1.26-2.67), 1.42 (1.19-1.69), 1.44 (1.16-1.79), and 1.66 (1.22-2.27), respectively.ConclusionsThe current evidence indicates that PBL is more effective than LBL in improving examination scores and student satisfaction in undergraduate pharmacology education.Copyright © 2024 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

11 keywords...

hide…