Abstract
BACKGROUND: Traditional teaching of medical microbiology has revolved around an organism centric, didactic lecture approach, lacking clinical relevance and appeal. Studies have shown that case-based learning in comparison to didactic lectures leads to a greater comprehension and understanding of the subject. To conduct a pilot study in our medical. College for the current MBBS batch (2019) (following the old pattern of syllabus), on student perceptions on case based learning (CBL) before the new Competency based undergraduate curriculum is rolled out for 2021 batch coming to second year of MBBS. METHODS: This pilot study was conducted at a medical college. The study was designed as an observational study on educational research and was approved by the institutional ethical committee (IEC). Study participants were second MBBS students willing to participate in the study (n = 60). Four topics were chosen to be taught as casebased scenarios as per the new CBME syllabus. Six weeks after the first CBL session was conducted, a survey questionnaire was given to the students to share their perceptions anonymously. The questionnaire had questions framed to assess the students' perception about CBL. The evaluation was done on a 5-point Likert. The responses collected were compiled in Microsoft excel sheet and the data was analysed statistically. Faculty perspective was also gathered. RESULTS: Majority of the students perceived CBL positively. There was a shift in the student's perspective towards the subject of microbiology, from being perceived earlier as theoretical and non-clinical to being perceived as appealing and clinically relevant.