Korean J Gastroenterol.  2024 Nov;84(5):223-229. 10.4166/kjg.2024.096.

Comparative Effectiveness of a 30-minute Online Lecture on Abdominal Ultrasonography in the Post-COVID-19 era: A Multi-center Study

• Jeong J
• Seo KI
• Park HJ
• Park NH

• KMID: 2561592
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4166/kjg.2024.096

Abstract

Background/Aims
Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) accelerated the importance of online learning in the field of medical education. This study compared the impact of online lectures on abdominal ultrasonography (USG) with that of offline lectures and assessed the efficacy of abdominal USG lectures for internal medicine (IM) residents and gastroenterology (GI) fellows.
Methods
A 30-minute lecture on upper abdominal USG was delivered online or offline, and a test with 39 short-answer questions was conducted before and after the lecture.
Results
The study population included 25 physicians (13 IM residents and 12 GI fellows) in the online group and 23 (20 IM residents, three GI fellows) in the offline group. The rates of USG education experience for online and offline groups were 64.0% and 69.6%, respectively (p=0.919). A significant increase in the test scores was observed after a one-time USG lecture in IM residents in both the online and offline, as well as GI fellows in the online (p<0.0001, <0.0001, and p=0.004, respectively). In addition, the delta scores were similar in the online and offline after a one-time lecture (8.8±4.3 vs. 7.8±3.7, respectively; p=0.406). A comparison of the delta-scores of the IM resident and GI fellow showed no significant difference within either the online or offline (9.0±4.5 vs. 8.4±3.6, p=0.927; 7.3±3.8 vs. 7.3±3.0, p=0.985).
Conclusions
The effectiveness of online USG lectures was comparable to that of offline lectures. In addition, a 30-minute, one-time abdominal USG lecture provided value to IM residents and GI fellows.

Keyword

Education; Ultrasound; Ultrasound training; Online system; Abdomen

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Study design. Before and after a short lecture, the physicians (Internal medicine residents and gastroenterology fellows) took a test with 39 slides consisting of still images of liver ultrasonography and the related short-answer questions.

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  Fig. 2 Examples of short-answer questions in the test of this study.

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  Fig. 3 Comparison of the pre-test and post-test scores after a one-time ultrasonography lecture. The changes in the test scores between the pre- and post-tests were statistically significant in the offline lecture in IM residents (A) and online lecture in IM residents (B). The changes in test scores between pre- and post-test were not significant in offline lectures in GI fellows (C) but significant in online lectures in GI fellows (D). IM, internal medicine; GI, gastroenterology.

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  Fig. 4 Comparison of the delta scores after education according to the education method and study population. The delta-score after a one-time lecture was similar in the online and offline groups in total population (8.8±4.3 vs. 7.8±3.7, respectively; p=0.406) (A). In the IM resident group, the delta-score was similar after online and offline lectures (9.0±4.5 vs. 8.4±3.6, respectively; p=0.927) (B). In the GI fellow group, the delta-score was similar after online and offline lectures (7.3±3.8 vs. 7.3±3.0, respectively; p=0.986) (C). There was also no difference between the IM resident and GI fellows in the total population (8.8±4.1 vs. 7.3±3.6, respectively; p=0.290) (D). IM, internal medicine; GI, gastroenterology.

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