Physician associate (PA) students’ perceptions of team-based learning (TBL) for teaching in Geriatric medicine

Abstract Background Physician Associates have recently been introduced to the UK healthcare workforce. Their curriculum includes important topics in Geriatric medicine. As they undertake a 2-year intensive postgraduate course we wanted to explore if Team-based Learning is an effective and efficient...

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Main Authors: Basaam Aweid, Natalie Parnis, David Harrison
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2025-02-01
Series:BMC Medical Education
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-025-06787-7
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author Basaam Aweid
Natalie Parnis
David Harrison
author_facet Basaam Aweid
Natalie Parnis
David Harrison
author_sort Basaam Aweid
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Background Physician Associates have recently been introduced to the UK healthcare workforce. Their curriculum includes important topics in Geriatric medicine. As they undertake a 2-year intensive postgraduate course we wanted to explore if Team-based Learning is an effective and efficient learning strategy. In addition, we wanted to know how this approach compares to their current learning methods, namely Problem-based learning and lectures. Methods This was a qualitative study of Physician associate student perceptions of Team-Based Learning. After introducing four TBL sessions in the specialty of Geriatric medicine we sent students anonymous questionnaires asking them about their TBL experience and how it compared to PBL and lectures. We then undertook a thematic analysis of the responses. Results Twenty students responded to our online questionnaire. The thematic analysis utilised themes from previous studies as well as emergent ones. The key themes were that TBL requires more preparation, TBL is effective, TBL is preferred to PBL and lectures, but students did not want TBL to replace all their teaching. Conclusions TBL is an effective learning strategy that can be used alongside other teaching methods. While Physician Associate students preferred TBL over PBL and lectures, they wanted to have TBL alongside lectures at least. This information is important when planning teaching for an intensive 2-year course.
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spelling doaj-art-b46ac3c0331e4cd3ad658eec2a9ca8f32025-02-09T12:42:36ZengBMCBMC Medical Education1472-69202025-02-012511810.1186/s12909-025-06787-7Physician associate (PA) students’ perceptions of team-based learning (TBL) for teaching in Geriatric medicineBasaam Aweid0Natalie Parnis1David Harrison2Elderly Day Hospital, The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustCollege of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Brunel University LondonEducation Department, Royal College of PhysiciansAbstract Background Physician Associates have recently been introduced to the UK healthcare workforce. Their curriculum includes important topics in Geriatric medicine. As they undertake a 2-year intensive postgraduate course we wanted to explore if Team-based Learning is an effective and efficient learning strategy. In addition, we wanted to know how this approach compares to their current learning methods, namely Problem-based learning and lectures. Methods This was a qualitative study of Physician associate student perceptions of Team-Based Learning. After introducing four TBL sessions in the specialty of Geriatric medicine we sent students anonymous questionnaires asking them about their TBL experience and how it compared to PBL and lectures. We then undertook a thematic analysis of the responses. Results Twenty students responded to our online questionnaire. The thematic analysis utilised themes from previous studies as well as emergent ones. The key themes were that TBL requires more preparation, TBL is effective, TBL is preferred to PBL and lectures, but students did not want TBL to replace all their teaching. Conclusions TBL is an effective learning strategy that can be used alongside other teaching methods. While Physician Associate students preferred TBL over PBL and lectures, they wanted to have TBL alongside lectures at least. This information is important when planning teaching for an intensive 2-year course.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-025-06787-7Physician associatePhysician assistantsTeam-based learningGeriatrics
spellingShingle Basaam Aweid
Natalie Parnis
David Harrison
Physician associate (PA) students’ perceptions of team-based learning (TBL) for teaching in Geriatric medicine
BMC Medical Education
Physician associate
Physician assistants
Team-based learning
Geriatrics
title Physician associate (PA) students’ perceptions of team-based learning (TBL) for teaching in Geriatric medicine
title_full Physician associate (PA) students’ perceptions of team-based learning (TBL) for teaching in Geriatric medicine
title_fullStr Physician associate (PA) students’ perceptions of team-based learning (TBL) for teaching in Geriatric medicine
title_full_unstemmed Physician associate (PA) students’ perceptions of team-based learning (TBL) for teaching in Geriatric medicine
title_short Physician associate (PA) students’ perceptions of team-based learning (TBL) for teaching in Geriatric medicine
title_sort physician associate pa students perceptions of team based learning tbl for teaching in geriatric medicine
topic Physician associate
Physician assistants
Team-based learning
Geriatrics
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-025-06787-7
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AT natalieparnis physicianassociatepastudentsperceptionsofteambasedlearningtblforteachingingeriatricmedicine
AT davidharrison physicianassociatepastudentsperceptionsofteambasedlearningtblforteachingingeriatricmedicine