Abstract:
Introduction and Objectives: Ophthalmoscopy is a core
clinical skill. Our objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of
a videotape, a live demonstration and a combination of above,
in acquiring competence in Direct Ophthalmoscopy (DO)
among medical undergraduates.
Materials and Methods: A randomized controlled trial was
conducted among pre clinical medical students of University
of Colombo. Students were randomly allocated to three groups.
Group-V and Group-L were trained on DO for 20 minutes
using a videotape and by a live demonstration respectively. A
third group (Group-VL) was trained with both methods for a
total of 20 minutes. Videotapes were obtained while students
performed DO on a simulated patient. Three blinded examiners
assessed the recordings individually using the modified Queens
University Ophthalmoscopy OSCE checklist. Learning styles
were assessed using the VARK questionnaire.
Results: A total of 106 students [37.7% (n=40) males] were
assessed. The mean score of DO was (10.0±2.5)/14. Majority
were multimodal learners (61.3%, n=65). A two-way
ANOVA showed a statistically significant effect of teaching
method on performance score of DO [F(2,86)=7.024, p=.001,
partial η2
=.140). Post-hoc comparisons indicated that mean
scores for each group were significantly different: Group-V
(M=8.27, SD=2.07); Group-L (M=10.15,SD=2.32) and
Group-VL (M=11.71, SD=1.47), p<.001. The interaction
effect for learning styles, F(4,86)=0.398, p=.810, did not reach
a statistically significant level.
Conclusions: The live demonstration showed a better result
than the video tape demonstration (p<.05). The combination
of video tape and live demonstration was significantly better
than the other two methods (p<.05). Their performance was
not affected by learning styles. We recommend a combined
approach as the preferred method of teaching DO to medical
undergraduates irrespective of their learning styles
