SynthesisCanadian medical education journal2025
Evaluating the outcomes of problem-based learning in postgraduate medical education: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Canadian medical education journal, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Effectiveness of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) in specialist physician training for kidney transplantation.Medicine · 2026Article
- Problem-based learning promotes causal physiological reasoning in first-year medical students before formal cardiovascular instruction.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Article
- Sleep deprivation and sleep debt among medical students, revisited.Canadian medical education journal · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Educators have recently been compelled to incorporate more active instructional formats into medical education, such as problem-based learning (PBL). In view of the mixed outcome data on the use of PBL in postgraduate medical education (PGME), there is a need to synthesize the data to inform the application of PBL in PGME contexts. Objective: The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to synthesize learning outcomes of PBL in PGME contexts. Methods: The authors systematically searched MEDLINE, Embase, APA PsycINFO, AMED, CINAHL, Web of Science, ERIC, and Cochrane databases from January 1, 1950, to July 1, 2022 for original studies that reported Kirkpatrick outcomes of PBL in PGME contexts. Outcomes data were extracted. Quantitative data relating to learning outcomes were meta-analyzed using a random-effects model to generate weighted mean differences. Results: Of 4310 abstracts screened, the authors included 21 studies encompassing anesthesia, family medicine, internal medicine, occupational medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry, public health and surgical residency programs. The studies reported reaction ( Conclusions: Although similar learning outcomes were observed using PBL and the usual teaching in PGME, PBL was associated with benefits in trainee satisfaction and behavioural changes that contribute to learning and performance. PGME programs should consider incorporating PBL into curricula.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.