Abstract
Background: To evaluate the efficacy of a perceptual and adaptive learning module (PALM) for teaching the identification of five optic nerve findings.Methods: In this prospective trial at a single academic institution, second- through fourth-year medical students were randomized, by class, to the PALM or a video didactic lecture. The PALM presented the learner with a short classification task consisting of an optic nerve image with all five possible findings. Learner accuracy and response time were used to guide the sequencing of successive classification tasks. Mastery for each finding was defined as three consecutive correct identifications within a target response time of eight seconds. The lecture intervention was a narrated video designed to simulate the related part of a traditional medical school didactic lecture. Accuracy and fluency on a pre-test, post-test, and delayed test (one month after the learning intervention) were compared within and between groups using the t-test. Cohen’s d was used to estimate effect size.Results: Eighty-three students participated. Accuracy and fluency improved significantly (P < 0.001) from pre-test to immediate post-test for both the PALM (accuracy d = 2.94, fluency d = 3.39) and lecture (accuracy d = 2.32, fluency d = 1.06). At the delayed test, PALM performance remained significantly (P < 0.001) greater than the pre-test in both accuracy (d = 0.89) and fluency (d = 1.16), while lecture performance remained greater in accuracy only (d = 0.44, P = 0.02). The PALM induced greater improvements than the lecture in both accuracy and fluency on the immediate post-test and delayed test.Conclusions: The PALM is an effective modality for training identification of common optic nerve findings.
Mastering Electrocardiogram Interpretation Skills Through a Perceptual and Adaptive Learning Module
