Abstract
BackgroundRadiology is an important aspect of medicine to which medical students often do not receive sufficient exposure. The aim of this project was to determine whether the integration of an innovative e-learning module on chest x-ray interpretation of the heart would enhance the radiological interpretive skills, and improve the confidence, of first year graduate entry medical students.MethodsAll first-year graduate entry (all students had a prior university degree) medical students at the University of Limerick (n = 152) during academic year 2015–16 were invited to participate in this study. An assessment instrument was developed which consisted of 5 radiological cases to be interpreted over a designated and supervised 15-min time period. Students underwent a pre-, mid- and post-intervention assessment of their radiology interpretative skills. An online e-module was provided following the pre-test and additional practice cases were provided following the mid-intervention test. Assessment scores and confidence levels were compared pre-, mid- and post-intervention.ResultsThe overall performance (out of a total score of 25) for the 87 students who completed all three assessments increased from 13.2 (SD 3.36) pre-intervention to 14.3 (SD 2.97) mid-intervention to 15.8 (SD 3.40) post-intervention. This change over time was statistically significant (p < 0.001) with a medium effect size (eta-squared = 0.35). Increases from pre- to post-intervention were observed in each of the five areas assessed, although performance remained poor in diagnosis post-intervention. Of the 118 students who provided feedback after the intervention, 102 (86.4%) stated that they would recommend the resource to a colleague to improve their interpretative skills.ConclusionsThis study suggests that early exposure to e-learning radiology modules is beneficial in undergraduate medical school curricula. Further studies are encouraged to assess how long the improvement may last before attrition.
Highlights
Radiology is an important aspect of medicine to which medical students often do not receive sufficient exposure
The fixed times for the three assessments resulted in some students not being available at all time points but there was no difference in mean pre-intervention assessment scores between those who participated in the post-intervention assessment and those who did not participate
One hundred eighteen students provided feedback after the intervention with 102 (86.4%) stating that they would recommend the resource to a colleague to improve their interpretative skills. 114 (96.6%) indicated that more tutorials on chest x-ray interpretation would benefit their learning
Summary
Radiology is an important aspect of medicine to which medical students often do not receive sufficient exposure. The aim of this project was to determine whether the integration of an innovative e-learning module on chest x-ray interpretation of the heart would enhance the radiological interpretive skills, and improve the confidence, of first year graduate entry medical students. Radiology is a medical specialty that, per previous studies, very few medical students receive adequate exposure to in their undergraduate curriculum, in the pre-clinical years [1]. It is well documented that online learning provides an active learning environment when delivered in a case-based or problem-based learning format [9]. Interactive feedback is critical to the success of this method of learning and to the mastery of radiology skills [8]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
