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. 2017 Feb 28:14:3.
doi: 10.3352/jeehp.2017.14.3. eCollection 2017.

Evaluation of team-based learning in a doctor of physical therapy curriculum in the United States

Donald H Lein Jr  1 , John D Lowman  1 , Christopher A Eidson  2 , Hon K Yuen  2
Affiliations

Evaluation of team-based learning in a doctor of physical therapy curriculum in the United States

Donald H Lein Jr et al. J Educ Eval Health Prof. .

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate students' academic outcomes after implementation of the team-based learning (TBL) approach in patient/client management courses in an entry-level doctor of physical therapy (DPT) curriculum.

Methods: The research design of this study involved comparing written and practical exam scores from DPT student cohorts taught with the traditional instructional methods (lecture-based) to those of students from subsequent cohorts taught using the TBL approach in two patient/client management courses: basic skills and cardiopulmonary. For this comparison, the exams used, the number of contact hours and labs, and the instructors who taught these courses remained the same during the transition between these two instructional methods (traditional vs. TBL). The average of all individual course exam scores was used for data analysis.

Results: In both courses, there were no meaningful differences in the mean exam scores among students across years of cohorts receiving the same instructional method, which allowed clustering students from different years of cohorts in each course receiving the same instructional method into one group. For both courses, the mean exam score was significantly higher in the TBL group than in the traditional instruction group: basic skills course (P<0.001) and cardiopulmonary course (P<0.001).

Conclusion: Student cohorts taught using the TBL approach academically outperformed those who received the traditional instructional method in both entry-level DPT patient/client management courses.

Keywords: Education, Professional; Educational measurement; Health occupations; Physical therapists; Students.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

There is no potential conflict of interest relevant to this article.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Mean of individual exam scores (with 95% confidential intervals) in two entry-level doctor of physical therapy patient/client management courses before and after implementation of TBL. TBL, team-based learning.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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