Comparison of the Effectiveness of Two Lecture Methods in an OB/GYN Clerkship

Abstract

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5915/39-4-8525

Background: A structured, consistent, didactic lecture system is extremely important in a third-year medical clerkship. Yet, its development for the obstetrics/ gynecology (OB/GYN) program is challenging for many reasons. Development of a system that is less dependent on a given lecturer's availability yet still provides complete coverage of the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics (APGO) topics for third-year students is desirable.

Objective: The present study was designed to compare the effectiveness on third-year OB/GYN medical students of live lectures versus lectures previously recorded to a compact disc. Outcome measures were a midterm internal examination and the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) examination scores at the end of the clerkship.

Experimental Design: Third-year medical students were assigned by lottery either to the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) campus in Augusta, Georgia, or one its several community-based sites (CBSs) throughout the state of Georgia. All third-year clerkship lectures given by different instructors were videotaped and saved to a compact disc to be played at all CBSs. The students at CBSs were required to observe the lectures in the same order as the live lectures were delivered to students at the MCG campus in Augusta.

Results: Student performance on the midterm internal exam and on the NBME examination was compared between the MCG campus and CBSs. Results are shown as raw score mean (SD). Midterm results showed: MCG was 65.6 (8.7) and CBS was 70.4 (17.0). NBME results showed: MCG was 81.1 (6.3) and CBS was 82.2 (7.6).

Conclusion: Using examination scores as the outcome, our preliminary data suggest there may be no significant difference in performance on the shelf exam between students receiving a live lecture versus students observing the same lecture electronically.