Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31699068›Full record

ArticleBMC medical education2019

Can e-learning improve the performance of undergraduate medical students in Clinical Microbiology examinations?

Niall T Stevens, Killian Holmes, Rachel J Grainger, Roisín Connolly, Anna-Rose Prior, Fidelma Fitzpatrick, Eoghan O'Neill, Fiona Boland, Teresa Pawlikowska, Hilary Humphreys

Abstract readEvaluation Study
In one paragraph

Article in BMC medical education, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
13citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

13 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trial
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  8. Review
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  10. Observational
  11. Article
  12. The Future of Infectious Diseases Education.Medical science educator · 2020
    Article
  13. Effect of e-learning methods on Dental education: An observational study.Journal of education and health promotion · 2020
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Niall T StevensDepartment of Clinical Microbiology, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, RCSI Education & Research Centre, Beaumont Hospital, Beaumont, Dublin 9, Ireland. nstevens@rcsi.ie.
Killian HolmesRCSI Information Technology Department, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Rachel J GraingerDepartment of Clinical Microbiology, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, RCSI Education & Research Centre, Beaumont Hospital, Beaumont, Dublin 9, Ireland.
Roisín ConnollyDepartment of Clinical Microbiology, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, RCSI Education & Research Centre, Beaumont Hospital, Beaumont, Dublin 9, Ireland.
Anna-Rose PriorDepartment of Clinical Microbiology, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, RCSI Education & Research Centre, Beaumont Hospital, Beaumont, Dublin 9, Ireland.
Fidelma FitzpatrickDepartment of Clinical Microbiology, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, RCSI Education & Research Centre, Beaumont Hospital, Beaumont, Dublin 9, Ireland.
Eoghan O'NeillDepartment of Clinical Microbiology, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, RCSI Education & Research Centre, Beaumont Hospital, Beaumont, Dublin 9, Ireland.
Fiona BolandData Science Centre, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Beaux Lane House, Lower Mercer Street, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Teresa PawlikowskaHealth Professions Education Centre, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Hilary HumphreysDepartment of Clinical Microbiology, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, RCSI Education & Research Centre, Beaumont Hospital, Beaumont, Dublin 9, Ireland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundClinical Microbiology is a core subject in medical undergraduate curricula. However, students struggle to cover the content and clinically contextualise basic microbiology. Our aim was to evaluate student engagement with new e-learning material and to investigate the impact it had on examination performance in a Clinical Microbiology module.

methodsAn online resource was designed to support didactic teaching in a Fundamentals of Clinical Microbiology module. One cohort of students had access to the online material (2017/2018 class) and the other did not (2016/2017 class). Each cohort sat the same multiple-choice question (MCQ) and short-note question (SNQ) examination papers and the impact of engagement with the online resource and examination performance was analysed.

resultsBoth groups were of the same academic standard prior to beginning the module. In the 2017/2018 cohort, 227/309 (73.5%) students had ≥80% engagement with the content. Students engaged most with the index of pathogens and pathogen focused clinical cases related to diverse genera and families of clinically important microorganisms. A statistically higher difference in the mean percentage grade in both the MCQ and SNQ examinations was seen for 2017/2018 compared to 2016/2017 cohort. For the MCQ examination, the 2017/2018 cohort were on average 5.57% (95% confidence interval (CI): 3.92 to 7.24%; P < 0.001) higher, and for the SNQ examination the 2017/2018 cohort were on average 2.08% (95% CI: 0.74 to 3.41%; P = 0.02) higher. When the results were adjusted for previous examination performance, for every percentage increase in online engagement the grade in the SNQ examination only increased by 0.05% (95% CI: 0.02 to 0.08) on average.

conclusionsThese findings suggest students engage with e-learning when studying and that such activities may help students perform better in assessments.

Indexed as

Clinical CompetenceComputer-Assisted InstructionEducational MeasurementEducation, Medical, UndergraduateStudents, MedicalFemaleHumansInternetMaleMicrobiologyClinical MicrobiologyE-learningExamination performance

Identifiers

PMID31699068
PMCPMC6836379

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.