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Spaced education and student learning: Results from a medical school
Author(s) -
Chugh Preeta K,
Tripathi CD
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the clinical teacher
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.354
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1743-498X
pISSN - 1743-4971
DOI - 10.1111/tct.13180
Subject(s) - formative assessment , knowledge retention , medical education , medical knowledge , psychological intervention , medicine , psychology , test (biology) , medical school , relevance (law) , family medicine , mathematics education , nursing , paleontology , political science , law , biology
SUMMARY Background It is critical for medical students to retain and apply their knowledge of basic sciences to become competent prescribing physicians. Poor long‐term retention is a pervasive concern. We investigated the impact of ‘spaced education’ teaching modules to improve knowledge retention in medical students on a topic of public health: vitamin D and its role in health and disease. It is critical for medical students to retain and apply their knowledge of basic sciences to become competent prescribing physiciansMethods In a self‐matched design, 148 medical students were randomised and evaluated on vitamin D‐related topics to assess reinforced and non‐reinforced knowledge in a multiple‐choice question format. Initial learning and long‐term retention were assessed with an estimation of Cohen's effect size at 24 and 72 weeks, respectively. Results The administration of spaced educational material significantly improved composite formative test scores at 24 weeks (p < 0.001, effect size = 1.33). Although the scores dipped, there was a retention of knowledge at 72 weeks (effect size = 0.48). Discussion Spaced reinforcement and testing statistically improved knowledge retention among our medical students. Gaps in the present teaching could be bridged by motivating the students to extend their learning time by appropriate spacing intervals and to understand the relevance of course content in different scenarios as a physician. Further research could be instrumental in optimising interventions to enhance learning opportunities for medical students.