Application of PBL combined with mini-CEX evaluation model in the clinical teaching of urological clinic teaching

With increasing emphasis on the education of medical interns, more and more attention was paid on the teaching situation of interns in university affiliated hospitals. How to integrate the medicine and education is the key to improve the quality of clinical internship. One hundred and twenty two fifth-year medical interns who interned in the urological department of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University between March 2025 and August 2025 were randomly assigned to an experimental group (combined PBL and Mini-CEX approach) or a control group (traditional teaching). All interns were assessed using theoretical tests, Mini-CEX evaluations of clinical skills before and after the two-week rotation. Furthermore, the teaching feedback evaluation of interns was utilized for investigating interns’ feedback with the teaching models via a questionnaire survey. The experimental group scored significantly higher than the control group on post-rotation theoretical tests and across all Mini-CEX components, including medical history-taking, physical examination, and clinical judgment (all p < 0.05). Interns in the experimental group also reported greater improvements in self-learning, literature retrieval skills, learning initiative and motivation, teamwork ability, and satisfaction (all p < 0.05). The combined PBL and Mini-CEX approach is a highly effective teaching model for urological internships, enhancing both theoretical knowledge and practical clinical skills. Further multi-center studies are recommended to confirm its broader applicability.