To What Extent Do Faculty and Students Believe that Team-Based Learning Supports Important Goals of Undergraduate Medical Education?

The Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed) utilizes team-based learning (TBL) heavily in the preclinical curriculum. The purpose of this study was to understand to what extent faculty and students believe the use of TBL supports important goals of undergraduate medical education. Lack of buy-in to the efficacy of TBL by students and/or faculty as well as differences in how faculty and students believe TBL supports the goals of UME would likely decrease the effectiveness of the TBL implementation. A set of fourteen goals for medical education that may be supported by TBL was identified from the TBL literature, interviews with WMed faculty, and focus groups with WMed students. A survey was then developed to ask students and faculty about whether TBL supports each goal as well as how important each goal is to medical education in general. The survey was distributed to the entire graduating classes of 2021, 2022, and 2023 (127/239 = 53% response rate), and all basic science faculty (11/11 = 100% response rate) in the Biomedical Sciences Department. Overall, there was large agreement between instructors and students about the goals that are supported by the use of TBL, with statistically significant differences (p <0.01) for two of the fourteen goals. To increase student buy-in, a recap of 2-3 high yield concepts and how those concepts are relevant for the clerkships in years 3 and 4 could be helpful. For faculty buy-in, clinical and basic science faculty should be encouraged to receive formal TBL training.