Presented By: Orla O'Donoghue, New York University Grossman Long Island School of Medicine
Co-Authors: Louis Ragolia, New York University Grossman Long Island School of Medicine

Purpose 
With ever-changing healthcare environments, impacts of pandemics such as Covid-19, increased physician caseloads, and medical knowledge doubling every 73 days, medical students must constantly adapt their learning and clinical practice approach. Having confidence to address any new problem is critical to students and their medical careers. NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine (NYUGLISOM) is a 3-year medical school, where students engage in 53 PBL cases in Phase 1 (pre-clerkship) and 11 cases in Phase 2 (clerkship). While PBL effectiveness on confidence promotion has been shown in mathematics and engineering education, few studies exist in undergraduate medical education (UME). This study investigates the effect of Problem Based Learning (PBL) on building clinical confidence to address any new problem encountered from 2019-2023 at NYUGLISOM.

Methods 
Quantitative analyses of students rating the effectiveness of PBL in building their clinical confidence in any new problem encountered at the end of year evaluations for pre-clerkship (year 1) and clerkship (year 2) were carried out, and compared to a baseline survey.  

Results 
87% (P<0.05) of pre-clerkship students (n= 89; Respondents: 79% for Class of 2022, and 100% for 2023, 2024 and 2025) and 88% (P<0.05) of clerkship students (n= 62; Respondents: 58% Class of 2022, and 100% for 2023, 2024) agreed that PBL gave them confidence to address any new clinical problem encountered. These results were an increase on baseline of 82% for class of 2026 (n=23; Respondents: 96%). 

Conclusion 
We propose that PBL is an excellent method to build clinical confidence to address any new problems encountered in UME. High exposure of PBL cases during pre-clerkship and clerkship promotes this confidence.  Study limitations include low baseline data and subjective confidence bias. Strengths include PBL as an opportunity to build and monitor student clinical confidence from the beginning of medical school, especially in 3-year programs.