Impact of Integrated teaching after exposed to traditional didactic teaching on learning of clinically oriented Physiology among Phase-I medical undergraduates

Background: In the field of medicine, the teaching approaches are constantly evolving, which greatly transforms the construction and focus of curriculums. An integrated approach for teaching basic sciences in the form of clinical case discussions will enhance better comprehension of basic sciences concepts, development of clinical skills and higher order thinking. Objective: To evaluate the outcome of integrated teaching on learning Physiology with clinical focus among medical undergraduate after experiencing traditional didactic teaching in Physiology. Methods: This study involved 138 phase-I students of MBBS course. This study composed of two parts. In part - A all participants were at first exposed to traditional lecture on physiology and then attended integrated teaching session. Performance of all the enrolled students were evaluated after both traditional & integrated teaching session by a written assessment on 3 selected topics recommended in updated MBBS curriculum 2021 in Bangladesh. For this purpose, 20-objective type of questions carrying 20 marks comprising 10 multiple true false type (MTF) and 10 single best answer (SBA)] was used for assessment with duration of 20 minutes. Bloom taxonomy level 1 through 3(recall, understanding and clinical application) was applied to construct each type objective question. Mean test score between post-traditional and post-integrated session was compared by paired sample t test. In addition, frequency of students with correct, incorrect and unattempt response was also calculated and compared by chi square test. In the part- B, all students and faculties were administered questionnaire with instruction to apply tick mark against the statement reflecting the perception and experience of integrated session after the test of part- A finished in the same place. Responses were assessed by using a likert scale on 1 to 5 gradations. Result: In part- A, mean ± SD test score of all type of question at all level on all topics significantly increased after integrated session (P<0.001). In addition, frequency of students with correct answer significantly increased whereas with incorrect and unattempt response significantly reduced (P<0.001) after integrated teaching. In Part- B, majority of students agreed that integrated sessions are more productive after traditional didactic session. Most of the faculties had the opinion that integrated teaching method as most effective teaching learning method after traditional didactic method. Conclusion: It may be concluded the integrated teaching is an effective as well as preferred method after being taught by traditional didactic teaching method for learning physiology with clinical focus for undergraduate medical students. J Bangladesh Soc Physiol 2025;20(1): 10-18