Abstract:

Historically, biomedical degrees have been structured into two well-defined blocks: the first, pre-clinical, focused on the study of basic disciplines, and the second, or clinical, framed in the study of clinical disciplines. One criticism of this structure is the lack of integration and coordination between the two blocks, which makes it difficult to retain and link basic knowledge in the context of clinical problems. Another of the weaknesses attributed to the predominant teaching methodology is not promoting sufficiently an active role of the students in their learning process. The National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation of Spain (ANECA) estabished in the white papers of degrees related to Biomedicine that the so-called transversal competencies should be approached in the new biomedical degrees. This is in agreement with surveys carried out for graduates. These competencies are addressed in the biomedical degrees in laboratory classes, which serve as a teaching tool to strengthen the knowledge acquired in the theory classes. Although these practices are undoubtedly useful, students should be encouraged to participate in Biomedical research as real generators of knowledge. The aim of this innovative teaching experience was to provide students with a real idea of how scientific research works, integrating and coordinating its basic and clinical aspects in order to link basic knowledge in the context of clinical problems. The objective was to solve the gap that usually occurs in regulated teaching, where research is usually completed after obtaining the data of programmed experiments, collecting these in the laboratory notebook. The novelty here was to offer students the opportunity to be protagonists in the construction of knowledge, as it happens in the operating theater and research laboratory in a professional way.

Keywords:

Knowledge generation, basic and clinical research integration, cross-curricular competency.