H. A. Prentice1, J. M. Wright1, P. Graling1, J. M. Dort1, J. J. Moynihan1 1Inova Fairfax Hospital,Department Of Surgery,Falls Church, VA, USA
Introduction: The addition of a research and statistics curriculum in 2011 showed significant improvement in general surgery residents’ scores on American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination (ABSITE) questions related to research methodology and statistics. Yet even with this improvement, there is still room for further achievement as there is a strong correlation between scores on the ABSITE and performance on board qualifying exams. Further, retention of knowledge on research and statistics has yet to be assessed. The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether knowledge retention of a research and statistics curriculum improves after implementation of spaced learning via Qstream as part of the resident training.
Methods: Starting in July 2014, educational lectures will be given monthly by the Inova Fairfax Hospital (IFH) Department of Surgery Biostatistician; with attendance at the lecture series being mandatory for all residents. Following each lecture, residents will be sent questions related to the respective lecture to answer via the web-based tool Qstream to enhance retention of knowledge learned during the didactic lecture. Knowledge retention will be assessed by change in exam scores from a baseline exam given prior to the first lecture and a follow-up exam given one month after the final lecture. Means and medians will be calculated for the percentage of correct answers and change in exam score for knowledge retention.
Results: All 21 IFH general surgery residents were included in the study. At baseline, average score on a 15 question research and statistics assessment was 8.3 (55.4%). Lowest scores were for a question regarding accounting for confounding during analysis and necessary components for power calculations (only 14.3% of residents answered correctly for both questions). Since the first lecture, 14 residents (66.7%) have started the questions via Qstream.
Conclusion: As a validated tool developed by researchers at Harvard Medical School for increasing knowledge retention for up to two years, Qstream can deliver educational material and reinforce education over spaced intervals of time so the learner critically thinks about the material content rather than relying on rote memorization. Our baseline assessment has shown there is room for improvement in resident research and statistics comprehension. It is hoped improvements will be observed at the end of the curriculum in December and be retained through follow-up assessment after the curriculum is over.