How Do We Promote Clinical Statistics Literacy of Emergency Medicine Residents: Is Clicker Technology the Answer?

• Activity Number: 278
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 2, 2011 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Teaching of Statistics in the Health Sciences
• Author(s): Penny S. Reynolds*+
• Companies: Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center
• Keywords: Emergency Medicine ; in-class assessment tools ; clinical statistics ; comprehension

Abstract

Physicians must be able to stay current with the vast and expanding medical research literature. Understanding of basic research concepts is also part of the competency requirements for medical resident education. However most residents lack even the most basic knowledge of clinical statistics required to meet these objectives. Wireless personal response system technology ("clickers") has been shown to improve retention rates of factual information in non-medical settings by encouraging active participation during lectures. The goal of this project was to increase Emergency Medicine resident reading comprehension of clinical statistics over 10 months by combining formal lectures with clicker technology. Emergency Medicine residents were given lectures covering 13 learning objectives in 3 research competency requirement areas. Lecture content de-emphasized computations in favor of concepts. Concept-based quizzes were given in each lecture, and in-class assessment tools ("clickers") provided immediate feedback. Supplemental readings were posted online before lectures. Assessment was based on pre- and post-test survey scores.