Background/Purpose: Case-based collaborative learning (CBCL) is an interactive teaching method that integrates cases with key concepts. CBCL is recognized as a means for knowledge improvement for learners and consequently has become increasingly utilized in medical education. Herein, our group created a CBCL curriculum with rheumatology and sports medicine content.

Methods: All medical students on a 10-week Internal Medicine (IM) Core Clerkship were enrolled in this study measuring the efficacy of this curriculum. The 1.5-hour rheumatology and sports medicine CBCL curriculum was performed in-person once per clerkship cycle. The CBCL is led by an internal medicine resident rotating on a dedicated teaching rotation.The CBCL consists of several topics, including crystalline arthropathies, osteoarthritis, inflammatory arthritis, and sports medicine. To assess knowledge improvement, we developed a pre/post multiple-choice question knowledge assessment and analyzed score differentials. To elaborate, students completed an 8-question pretest knowledge assessment two days prior to the CBCL curriculum. Answers to the pretest questions were not provided to the students at the completion of the pretest. The questions/answers to the pretest were not explicitly discussed during the CBCL presentation. Students then completed the same 8 question quiz after the CBCL curriculum. The posttest was made available 1 day after the CBCL curriculum ended and was required to be completed within 4 days of the session. All students completed both the pre/post assessment.

Results: Institutional Review Board approval was obtained, and data was collected from January 2022-December 2022. Statistical differences were analyzed using paired t-testing and analysis of variance (ANOVA).136students completed both CBCL quizzes. The mean scores of the pre- and post-quizzes were 61.4% (SD +/- 23.0%) and 70.6% (SD +/- 19.4%), respectively. The score improvement for the overall cohort was 9.2% (p< 0.001). All medical student blocks had a statistically significant improvement in quiz scores except for block 3 (p=0.354). ANOVA testing demonstrated consistency across the four blocks regarding mean pretest (p=0.284), posttest (p=0.687) and score improvement (p=0.565) with no significant differences between blocks.

Conclusion: CBCL was an effective alternative to lecture-based teaching, and consequently, this curriculum was integrated into the IM Clerkship Curriculum. A limitation of this project was the inability to determine long-term retention of concepts acquired during the CBCL. Future directions of this project may include diversification of pre- and post-tests and obtaining student-centered feedback on the curriculum.

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/piloting-a-rheumatology-and-sports-medicine-case-based-collaborative-learning-curriculum-for-medical-students/