Ambulatory Medicine Lecture
Dr. Ayers
Clinical Nutrition
PBL
In an upcoming class, you will be asked to discuss your approach to solving the following problem statements that focus on clinical nutrition topics. You will need to formulate relevant self-directed questions that will frame your solution(s), find the necessary data to answer those questions, and come to a conclusion. Think broadly before honing in on your solution.
Problem #1
In a popular daily newspaper a headline blares: “Knowledgeable Teens Still Starve for Attention.” There is a picture of a thin, attractive young woman; the picture caption reads, “Heidi Guenther: The 22 year old Boston Ballet dancer struggled with an eating disorder, succumbed to a heart attack June 30.”
Problem #2
Obesity is both endemic and pandemic in this country. Management of obesity is notoriously recalcitrant: What do you need to know about clinical obesity to help your overweight patients from a nutritional aspect.
Problem #3
The U.S. Government puts millions of your tax dollars into cancer research. As a concerned taxpayer, what questions would you like your Congressman to ask the Chief of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) about dietary prevention of cancer when he testifies next week?
Problem #4
A 59 year old white male underwent a successful angioplasty/atherectomy of a single (LAD) coronary lesion. What questions do you need to ask the patient to plan a nutritional approach to a secondary prevention program? Depending on the answers be prepared to plan that program.
Ambulatory Medicine Lecture
Dr. Ayers
Georgetown University School of Medicine
Model for Problem-Based Learning
The “PBL small group” uses a PBL case which is divided into parts, each part given to the students on each of the two or three days of PBL sessions. The process involves students working together to pool ideas and information based on the case. One student is appointed the “beadle” for the case and it is his/her job to get all the materials to and from each session. Another student is the “reader” and presents the portion of the case to be considered each day. A student “scribe” writes down all the information on large sheets of paper mounted on a wall for easy access and referral. The four sequential lists of collected and discussed information and outlined below:
DATAAfter one student reads the first page of the case out loud to the group, the scribe lists all the information or “data” about the patient, e.g., complaints, signs and symptoms, etc., as the students identify this information. This is for visual learning and “trapping” the data. For example: A 25-year old white female, pain in right knee, swelling, began three days ago, no memory of injury, etc.
QUESTIONS This is the most difficult part of the process initially. Questions that may be answered “yes” or “no” are not very useful. Much more powerful are question like “what is the cause…” (WIC) or “what is the significance…” (WIS). Questions should be numbered. It is important that questions be directly related to and confined to the DATA.
WORKING DIAGNOSIS [HYPOTHOSIS]Refer back to the Questions in formulating Hypotheses and refer to the Question number(s) in listing them. A Hypothesis is a “possibility” or reason to explain certain observed phenomena. Hypotheses can be complex when combining a number of questions together. Hypotheses must relate only to the observed data already listed.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES Using the Hypotheses, students formulate specific areas about which they need information in order to test/support/reject the listed hypothesis. The objectives should include specific parts of basic science concepts that the students will review/learn. The Facilitator copy of each PBL Case includes a list of Learning Objectives. One of the tasks of the facilitator in guiding the group, if necessary, is to include these objectives as part of their learning. The students receive the Learning Objective sat the end of the Case.
MAPPINGis a graphic representation of the interrelationship between the data points of the Case. It is a schematic that attempts to answer as many of the relevant questions raised by the Case via conjoined pathways. Different Colors, arrows and varied line forms (dots, dashes, etc.) are usually required. (This is the Law of Parsimony or Occam’s Razor.