Medical Education

Sri Lanka’s achievements in providing healthcare are remarkable for a country with a GDP per capita of USD 3900, of which only 3.2% is spent on health.   For example, the maternal mortality ratio is 33 per 100,000 live births, infant mortality ratio is 8.2 per 1000 live births and life expectancy at birth is high i.e. 72 years for males and 78 years for females. Initiatives that lead to these achievements were made several decades ago. Between 1931 and 1951, Sri Lanka expanded access to health services by using direct government provision and building a highly dispersed health facility network in rural areas. So effective was the expansion in coverage that by 1951 Sri Lanka was able to achieve quantitative levels of health service access comparable to many middle-income developing countries and substantially equalize use of modern medical treatment between rich and poor. The health workforce (HWF) is recognized as central in attaining, sustaining, and accelerati...

Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching method used in many medical schools in Sri Lanka and worldwide. This article describes this method, its importance and impact on medical education. What is PBL? “A learning method based on the principle of using problems as a starting point for the acquisition and integration of new knowledge.”                                                             - H.S. Barrows 1982 Problem-based learning is a student-centered teaching method, mostly used during the pre-clinical phase of medical curriculum. In this approach a clinical problem is given to a small group of students, to discuss on it over several sessions. Analysing the...