Impact of antiphospholipid syndrome iBook on medical students' improvement of knowledge: An international randomized controlled study.

objectiveiBook on Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS) did not exist before our work, and hence the utility of an Apple iBook as a teaching method in APS for medical students has never been assessed. Our objective was to evaluate medical students' improvement of knowledge and satisfaction with an interactive APS iBook, in comparison with conventional teaching methods.

methodsAn iBook designer with the guidance of a medical team developed the APS iBook in both French and English. Second-year medical students, naïve of APS knowledge, were enrolled from two institutions. For the "teaching intervention", participants were randomly assigned to three groups: a) APS iBook with interactive capability; b) printed copy of the APS iBook material; and c) classroom lecture presentation of the APS iBook material by a physician-scientist experienced in APS. The participants filled a standardized medical questionnaire about APS before and after teaching interventions to determine the relative change of knowledge. Participants were asked to fill out a standardized satisfaction survey. After 20 weeks of the intervention, recall capability of students was tested.

resultsA total of 233 second-year medical students were enrolled (iBook group: 73; print group: 79, and lecture group: 81). Relative change of knowledge was not different between the iBook group and the printed material group; additionally, it was significantly higher in the lecture group than the two other methods. Satisfaction was significantly higher in both the lecture and the iBook groups than the print group, on several dimensions including overall quantitative satisfaction, subjective enhanced knowledge, interactivity, quality of content, comprehensibility, and pleasure of learning. Recall capability of students (n=109, 47%) was not significantly different among groups.

conclusionThe APS iBook is as effective as printed material in improving medical student's knowledge, although a classroom lecture was the most effective method when compared to self-learning methods. Among self-learning methods, medical students are more satisfied with the APS iBook, whereas the recall capability was not different among groups. These results suggest that the APS iBook will help medical students in their curriculum and increase the awareness of APS among the community.