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Rui Zeng,1,* Lian-rui Xiang,2,* Jing Zeng,3 Chuan Zuo4 1Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, 2Department of Public Affairs Development, 3Department of Internal Medicine, 4Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, West China Hospital, School of Clinic Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: We aimed to introduce team-based learning (TBL) as one of the teaching methods for diagnostics and to compare its teaching effectiveness with that of the traditional teaching methods.Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial on diagnostics teaching involving 111 third-year medical undergraduates, using TBL as the experimental intervention, compared with lecture-based learning as the control, for teaching the two topics of symptomatology. Individual Readiness Assurance Test (IRAT)-baseline and Group Readiness Assurance Test (GRAT) were performed in members of each TBL subgroup. The scores in Individual Terminal Test 1 (ITT1) immediately after class and Individual Terminal Test 2 (ITT2) 1 week later were compared between the two groups. The questionnaire and interview were also implemented to survey the attitude of students and teachers toward TBL.Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups in ITT1 (19.85±4.20 vs 19.70±4.61), while the score of the TBL group was significantly higher than that of the control group in ITT2 (19.15±3.93 vs 17.46±4.65). In the TBL group, the scores of the two terminal tests after the teaching intervention were significantly higher than the baseline test score of individuals. IRAT-baseline, ITT1, and ITT2 scores of students at different academic levels in the TBL teaching exhibited significant differences, but the ITT1-IRAT-baseline and ITT2-IRAT-baseline indicated no significant differences among the three subgroups.Conclusion: Our TBL in symptomatology approach was highly accepted by students in the improvement of interest and self-directed learning and resulted in an increase in knowledge acquirements, which significantly improved short-term test scores compared with lecture-based learning. TBL is regarded as an effective teaching method worthy of promoting. Keywords: team-based learning, diagnostics, symptomatology, medical education

Rui Zeng,1 Rong-Zheng Yue,2 Chun-Yu Tan,3 Qin Wang,4 Pu Kuang,5 Pan-Wen Tian,6 Chuan Zuo3 1Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, 2Department of Nephrology, 3Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, 4Department of Endocrinology, 5Department of Hematology, 6Department of Respiratory Diseases, West China Hospital, School of Clinic Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China Background: Interpreting an electrocardiogram (ECG) is not only one of the most important parts of diagnostics but also one of the most difficult areas to teach. Owing to the abstract nature of the basic theoretical knowledge of the ECG, its scattered characteristics, and tedious and difficult-to-remember subject matter, teaching how to interpret ECGs is as difficult for teachers to teach as it is for students to learn. In order to enable medical students to master basic knowledge of ECG interpretation skills in a limited teaching time, we modified the content used for traditional ECG teaching and now propose a new ECG teaching method called the “graphics-sequence memory method.” Methods: A prospective randomized controlled study was designed to measure the actual effectiveness of ECG learning by students. Two hundred students were randomly placed under a traditional teaching group and an innovative teaching group, with 100 participants in each group. The teachers in the traditional teaching group utilized the traditional teaching outline, whereas the teachers in the innovative teaching group received training in line with the proposed teaching method and syllabus. All the students took an examination in the final semester by analyzing 20 ECGs from real clinical cases and submitted their ECG reports. Results: The average ECG reading time was 32 minutes for the traditional teaching group and 18 minutes for the innovative teaching group. The average ECG accuracy results were 43% for the traditional teaching group and 77% for the innovative teaching group. Conclusion: Learning to accurately interpret ECGs is an important skill in the cardiac discipline, but the ECG’s mechanisms are intricate and the content is scattered. Textbooks tend to make the students feel confused owing to the restrictions of the length and the format of the syllabi, apart from many other limitations. The graphics-sequence memory method was found to be a useful method for ECG teaching. Keywords: new ideas, ECG, classroom teaching content, graphics-sequence memory