Educational effectiveness of short-term e-learning intervention on chest radiograph assessment skills among radiological technology students: a pre- and post-comparative study.

Medical imaging interpretation is central to clinical decision-making. However, a significant global radiologist shortage necessitates an expanded role for radiological technologists in providing image interpretation support. Preparing students for this role is challenging because undergraduate radiological technology curricula are notoriously crowded, restricting time for practical chest X-ray (CXR) interpretation training. To address this educational gap, we quantitatively evaluated the impact of a highly feasible, 180-minute e-learning intervention on students' CXR evaluation skills. Sixty-nine third-year radiological technology students completed a self-directed learning session using the diagnostic simulator simu.Doc. Accuracy rates and response times for a 50-case CXR test were measured pre- and post-intervention. To assess the method's versatility, participants were stratified into three proficiency levels based on pre-test scores. The overall mean accuracy rate significantly improved from 40.7 to 60.0% (p < 0.001), while the mean response time significantly decreased from 36.2 to 23.2 min (p < 0.001). Subgroup analysis demonstrated significant improvements across all proficiency levels. Furthermore, ANCOVA revealed no significant differences among the groups in post-test accuracy (p = 0.788) or response time (p = 0.653) when adjusted for pre-test scores. These results indicated that performance converged to a statistically uniform level regardless of baseline knowledge. This study provides quantitative evidence that a short, intensive e-learning program utilizing digital transformation can effectively and sustainably enhance CXR interpretation skills, facilitating the integration of image evaluation training into time-constrained undergraduate curricula.