Pakistan Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Abstract: Background: Traditional urology residency programs often depend heavily on lectures, which can limit resident engagement and teamwork. Problem-based learning (PBL) in a multidisciplinary team setting has been shown to enhance clinical reasoning skills and improve knowledge retention. This article examines the effectiveness of a PBL approach, specifically focused on a tamsulosin module related to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in urology training. Objectives: To evaluate whether a PBL-based educational intervention improves pharmacology knowledge, clinical reasoning, and interprofessional teamwork, in addition to enhancing overall resident satisfaction, compared to a traditional lecture-based curriculum. Methods: This study utilized a randomized two-arm design involving 100 urology residents. Participants were divided into two groups: an Intervention group, which received problem-based learning (PBL) alongside a tamsulosin module, and a Control group, which received traditional lectures. Outcomes were assessed before and after the rotation by blinded evaluators and included measures of pharmacology knowledge, clinical reasoning, teamwork, satisfaction, and participation. Changes within each group and differences between the groups were analyzed using paired tests and two-tailed tests, with a significance level set at alpha = 0.05. Results: Both groups showed improvement over time, but the Intervention group achieved significantly greater gains. By the end of the rotation, the Intervention group outperformed the Control group in several areas: knowledge of pharmacology (88 ± 6 compared to 75 ± 7), clinical reasoning (85 ± 5 compared to 73 ± 6), teamwork ratings (90% versus 70%), satisfaction (94% versus 81%), and participation (92% versus 78%). All differences were statistically significant (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Integrating a structured sequence of problem-solving learning with a focused pharmacology topic on tamsulosin, within a multidisciplinary team setting, has been shown to enhance urology residents' knowledge, problem-solving abilities, teamwork, and satisfaction compared to traditional teaching methods.