Table 3.

Level of evidence on outcome variables measured in six studies evaluating effectiveness of problem based learning in continuing medical education

Outcome variable	High quality studies			Low quality studies		Level of evidence*
	Positive result	Negative result		Positive result	Negative result
Problem based learning v other educational interventions
Participants' knowledge	1	1		0	1	None
Participants' performance	1	0		0	1	None
Participants' satisfaction	1	0		1	0	Moderate
Patients' health	0	0		0	0	None
Problem based learning v no educational intervention
Participants' knowledge	0	0		1	0	Limited
Participants' performance	0	0		3	0	Limited
Patients' health	0	0		1	0	Limited

^*Possible levels of evidence: strong, moderate, limited, or none (see Methods for details).