Written by Ruari McGowan
A rough overview of how you work through PBL sessions would be as follows:
Obviously, at an interview, you won’t have to go away and do the research, but you should treat as if you would research the issues raised. This will help you engage with it fully. Below are some tips on how to tackle mock PBL sessions at interview.
Although it is important that you have your voice heard, don’t speak over other people in your group during PBL sessions – that’s not demonstrating good teamwork or listening skills! Listen to what other people have to say and respond accordingly. It’ll help you gain a better understanding of the problem and is key to any teamwork-based exercise.
Everything you need to form your learning objectives is in the scenario. Don’t go off course trying to think of complicated or abstract learning objectives. Think about what’s in the scenario and why it is there. This is where the learning objectives come from.
Clearly, if a disease or treatment is mentioned in the scenario, you’re going to need to look into it, but also consider the basic science. For example, if someone has broken their leg, don’t just think about how to fix it but also the basic anatomy of the leg.
If you know something about the topics covered in the scenario, don’t be afraid to share it. This will help people think more about the problem and show the observers that you have read a bit around the subject of medicine.
This is the role of the chair in a normal PBL situation but you may not have one at interview. By encouraging everyone to take part, this will show you understand that PBL is a team sport and you’re interested in what everyone has to say.
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