Comparison of the effects of vid-cast and lecture-based training courses on burn knowledge among medical interns at the Motahari burn hospital

Background: A training course on burn infection and care is one of the courses that medical students take during their internship. This training course has not yet been taught through e-learning in medical schools in Iran. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the effects of two methods: traditional lecturing and employing a vid-cast with interactive electronic content, on the knowledge of interns in a training course on burns.

Methods: This quasi-experimental study with a pre-post non-equivalent group design was conducted among medical interns taking burn rotation training courses at the Motahari burn hospital, affiliated with the Iran University of Medical Sciences. The two groups were given a pre-test at the beginning of the course. One group was given in-person lectures, and the other was given the same content in the form of a vid-cast with interactive electronic files. At the end of the rotation course, a post-test was administered on the planned content, and scores of both groups were compared.

Results: The pre-test mean scores in the lecture group before and after the training intervention were 8 and 14.2, respectively; this difference was significant (P<0.001). The difference between the pre-test and post-test mean scores in the vid-cast group was also significant (P<0.001).The mean of post-test scores in the lecture group was 14.92 and 17.24 in the e-learning group; this difference was also significant (P<0.001).

Conclusion: Post-test scores in the e-learning group were higher with a significant statistical difference, suggesting that the e-learning outperformed their counterparts in the traditional lecture model. It is recommended that e-learning be used either as a supplementary or the main method of training in burn infection and care for interns.