Buzz Session as an Active Learning Method in Medical Undergraduate Physiology Teaching-An Institutional-Based Study.

Background: In the current era of medical teaching, multiple active teaching-learning strategies are being explored due to drawbacks of conventional didactic learning methodology which are applicable to a typical classroom setting. Our attempt was to introduce short interactive buzz sessions in the midst of a lecture and assess the perception of students and faculty towards the use of these buzz sessions as an active learning method in physiology.

Aim And Objectives: To introduce buzz sessions as a teaching-learning tool in undergraduate medical teaching and to assess the student and faculty perception of this teaching method.

Methodology: This prospective, non-randomized, interventional study was carried out in the Department of Physiology, GMC Srinagar. The participants were 180 students of MBBS 1st Phase and 08 faculty members of the Physiology Department. Both the students and faculty were sensitized about the buzz sessions. Ten lectures of 1 h each were chosen from the Endocrine System, and taught by incorporating the buzz session in the lecture. The study was approved by the Institutional Ethical Committee.

Results: Both the students and the faculty favoured incorporating buzz sessions during the lectures as this teaching method makes the class interesting and interactive and helps to enhance communication, reasoning skills, and collaborative learning among the students.

Conclusions: The study concludes that learning physiology using buzz sessions is liked and preferred by both students and faculty, and hence the need for buzz sessions in current medical teaching.