Do students from PBL institutions become life-long learners?
Some believe that PBL encourages the acquisition of independent study skills. Such skills would help a practitioner to keep up-to-date. Primary care physicians who graduated from McMaster University displayed more up-to-date knowledge of an important clinical concept (hypertension),7 but graduates from the same institution did not participate in more continuing education activities.8 Are there any differences in practice patterns? Studies in the United States9 and Finland10 have shown that graduates from schools with innovative curricula are more likely to choose a career in primary care than their counterparts from more traditional schools; these students also report their education to be more relevant to their present practice. These findings have not been replicated in other countries. It seems that career choice is more a matter of the explicitly stated mission of a school than its instructional approach. However, McMaster graduates in general practice, compared with matched contro
