Premium
Collaborative Teaching Strategies Lead to Retention of Skills in Acid‐Base Physiology: A 2‐Year Follow‐Up Study
Author(s) -
Berg Ronan,
Hartmann Jacob,
Toksvang Linea Natalie
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.541.20
Subject(s) - medicine , confidence interval , psychology , medical education
Background Collaborative teaching stategies may be useful for conveying the basic principles of acid‐base physiology to undergraduate students in the classroom setting. We have previously reported that both conventional group work and Mazur's peer instruction technique enabled 2nd year medical students to diagnose common acid‐base disorders (1). In the present study, we investigated whether these collaborative strategies would lead to long‐term retention of the learned skills. Methods. Two years after our initial study was conducted (1), we recruited 32 of the 41 students ('collaborative group') that had originally participated, as well as 58 4th year medical students ('control group') that had participated in the same physiology course two years ealier, but without any collaborative elements. All students underwent a written test, in which they were to diagnose four common acid‐base disorders by assessing arterial blood gas values, and report their confidence level (0‐100%) for each diagnosis. The students were assigned 1 point for each correct diagnosis. Data are reported as median (IQR), and p<0.05 is considered statistically significant. Results. The collaborative group reached higher test scores than the control group (p<0.01; Figure 1). For three of the four acid‐base disorders, a higher proportion of students in the collaborative group reached the correct diagnosis, and generally did so with a higher level of confidence (Table 1). Conclusion Collaborative teaching strategies may enhance student retention of skills for diagnosing common acid‐base disorders.Collaborative group Control groupCorrect answers (%) Confidence (%) Correct answers (%) Confidence (%) Respiratory acidosis without compensation 94 95 (85‐100) 78 80 (65‐93)* Metabolic acidosis with partial compensation 97 90 (70‐100) 79* 79 (71‐95) Metabolic alkalosis with partial compensation 97 90 (80‐100) 78* 78 (50‐90)* Combined respiratory and metabolic acidosis 71 80 (70‐100) 41* 73 (50‐84)*