333 The Effect of Obesity on Bowel Preparation for Colonoscopy: Results From a Large Prospective Study at an Urban Health Care Center

Abstract

Background/Purpose: Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic in the United States. However, healthcare providers, including medical students and residents, do not feel prepared to diagnose obesity, perform counseling, or treat obesity and its complications. The purpose of this study is to design a web-based module to adequately deliver educational content pertinent to medical students on the topic of pediatric obesity. The effectiveness of the module was evaluated in terms of content mastery and overall satisfaction using a pre-test, post-test, and post-test survey. We hypothesize that there will be a significant increase in knowledge on key content areas related to the topic of pediatric obesity after viewing the web-based module. Methods: An IRB approved, prospective study of 217 third year U.S. medical students was performed. Students were given a pre-test followed by educational content delivered in the form of a web-based module, then a post-test. Test questions centered on areas of the assessment, evaluation, counseling, treatment, and complications of pediatric obesity. Participants served as their own controls to compare pretest and posttest scores. Overall satisfaction with both the content and method of delivery of the web-based module was assessed using a post-test survey. Results: Completing the web-based module resulted in improved scores when comparing post-test to pre-test scores. Average scores increased from 77.4% correct on the pre-test to 93.6% on the post-test, an overall 16.2% increase in content mastery (95% CI 13.9-18.5, p<0.00001). In addition, students were overall highly satisfied with both the content and delivery method of the module as reported on the post-test satisfaction survey. Conclusions: The web-based method of instruction shows potential for increasing knowledge in the important areas of assessment, counseling, consequences, and treatment plans surrounding the topic of pediatric obesity. Students reported overall satisfaction with this web-basedmethod of instruction. In an era of increasing demands on student time, this web-based module served the purpose of delivering education with objective documentation of improved student knowledge. We plan to expose other health-care learners to the pediatric obesity module.