Innovation in Teaching Strategies for Undergraduate Medical Students at Isra University Hyderabad, Sindh-Pakistan

Objective: to evaluate the academic performance and to assess the experience of 4th year mbbs students before and after introduction of problem based learning curriculum (pblc). study design: a comparative study. place and duration of study: academic session of 2006-2007 at isra university hyderabad, sindh-pakistan. subjects and methods: one-hundred and nine students of 4th year mbbs were taught obstetrics and gynecology by traditional curriculum (tc) and problem based curriculum; both for 150 hours. their academic performance was evaluated by 06 continuous assessment tests (cats) scheduled fortnightly. at the end of every curriculum their experiences were recorded on a questionnaire. data were analyzed and chi- square test and student’s t-test were used to obtain significant values. results: study detected statistically significant difference of class test attendance (p<0.001) and marks obtained in each test (p<0.001) after pblc and tc. students liked pblc more and their experience was excellent and good (p<0.001) with pblc than with tc. classroom attendance was not different in both curriculum as 75% of attendance was required by student to be eligible to appear in the end-semester examination as per rules of examination department of the university. conclusion: pblc introduced in the 4th year mbbs at isra university with traditional curriculum significantly improves the academic performance of students. students’ experience of pblc was good and they liked it because of more understanding of the subject, feeling of independence and confident.