Trial reportScientific reports2021
Randomized controlled trial comparing the effectiveness of mass and spaced learning in microsurgical procedures using computer aided assessment.
Trial report in Scientific reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Microsurgical education for medical students: systematic review.Acta cirurgica brasileira · 2026Pooled it
- Distributed training vs. massed practice for surgical skills training-a systematic review.Surgical endoscopy · 2025Pooled it
- Spaced Digital Education for Health Professionals: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Pooled it
- Mapping educational scholarship in a mixed-financing health system: a scoping review of health professions education research in Singapore.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Validated Microsurgical Training Programmes: A Systematic Review of the Current Literature.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Counting days is a spacing incentive that unlocks the potential of low GPA students.NPJ science of learning · 2025Article
- A Mentoring Network for Diversity in Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research.Journal of dental research · 2024Article
- The effect of spaced E-Learning on knowledge of basic life support and satisfaction of nursing students: a quasi-experimental study.BMC medical education · 2024Article
- Results of a Pilot Virtual Microsurgery Course for Plastic Surgeons in LMICs.Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Spaced-learning refers to teaching spread over time, compared to mass-learning where the same duration of teaching is completed in one session. Our hypothesis is that spaced-learning is better than mass-learning in retaining microsurgical suturing skills. Medical students were randomized into mass-learning (single 8-h session) and spaced-learning (2-h weekly sessions over 4 weeks) groups. They were taught to place 9 sutures in a 4 mm-wide elastic strip. The primary outcome was precision of suture placement during a test conducted 1 month after completion of sessions. Secondary outcomes were time taken, cumulative performance, and participant satisfaction. 42 students (24 in the mass-learning group; 18 in spaced-learning group) participated. 3 students in the spaced-learning group were later excluded as they did not complete all sessions. Both groups had comparable baseline suturing skills but at 1 month after completion of teaching, the total score for suture placement were higher in spaced-learning group (27.63 vs 31.60,p = 0.04). There was no statistical difference for duration and satisfaction in either group. Both groups showed an improvement in technical performance over the sessions, but this did not differ between both groups. Microsurgical courses are often conducted in mass-learning format so spaced learning offers an alternative that enhances retention of complex surgical skills.
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Registered trials
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.