The medical exhibition seminar

Summary Background: Our aim was to develop, introduce and evaluate a new clinical interdisciplinary teaching and learning activity (TLA) using modern pedagogical principles. Method: All fourth-year students at the clinical course in basic surgery at Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge participated. Fifteen urological and 15 colorectal pictures were presented. All pictures had a correlating statement on a sheet. The assignment was to correlate each picture with the best possible statement. Peer as well as teacher discussions were permitted. A facilitated discussion about the pictures followed. Evaluation was performed by questionnaire. The final examination results of the course were analysed. Results: Over 80 per cent of the medical students evaluated the seminar (n = 199). The general opinion of the TLA was 8.79 on a 10-point graded visual digital scale (1, bad; 10, excellent). The student self-assessed level of enjoyment and of the activity was 9.0 and 8.5, respectively. Nine out of 10 students rated the Medical Exhibition Seminar ‘as good as’ (24%) or ‘better than’ (64%) traditional lecturing, and 73 and 63 per cent, respectively, rated it ‘as good as’ or ‘better than’ case method teaching (case) and problem-based learning (PBL). The method did not change the final examination results. Conclusion Medical Exhibition Seminar teaching is a learner-centred and problem-based teaching method that should be included in our pedagogical toolbox. It is designed to be an effective, efficient and modern pedagogical tool suitable for our modern health care system.