Bridging the Problem-Based Learning Gap for the Pre-Medical Student: Lessons Learned from Physicists Maxwell and Einstein

Abstract

Our pre-medical curricula have changed little since Flexner identified eight core classes in 1910. Discussion has continued to refine what science mastery is needed to become a medical school matriculant, but there remains a hierarchy of courses designed to produce an effective score on the Medical College Admissions Test. In many countries, students go from siloed learning as undergraduates to integrated, problem-based learning (PBL) as graduate students. Unfortunately, without prior exposure to the PBL model, first-year medical students struggle and may fail to continue. In physics, the great minds of Maxwell and Einstein unified existing ideas, creating new, simpler theories. The idea of unification lies at the forefront of physics and, following suit, the future physician needs to deconstruct the boxed courses to see the body as a single entity. We would argue that upper-level pre-medical students should prepare to perform well in an interdisciplinary course such as pathology, which is typically part of the first-year medical school curriculum. Such “early exposure” would increase the students’ comfort and engagement with their future studies and fortify active, analytical learning.