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Effectiveness of problem-solving exercises in radiology education for undergraduates

Background. The teaching of radiology to undergraduates in India is largely didactic. We incorporated innovative methods including problem-solving exercises in teaching to assess the impact on the outcome with respect to knowledge and interpretive skills in radiology. Methods. We enrolled all students of the 2014-15 MBBS batch. The topics in radiology were divided in two parts. The first part was taught by innovative methods including problemsolving exercises and integrated teaching. The second part was taught by the conventional lecture method. Validated item banks were used to assess the increase in knowledge and interpretive skills developed by these modalities to compare their effectiveness. Results. Students showed an improvement in knowledge and interpretive skills scores irrespective of whether they we were taught by the innovative or conventional teaching method. However, the gain in scores were higher and statistically significant for interpretive skills when taught by the innovative teaching method. Conclusions. Innovative teaching methods that involve integrated teaching and use of problem-solving exercises and picture-archiving communicating system are beneficial for promoting interpretive and problem-solving skills of undergraduates in learning radiology.