Comparing the teaching efficacy of a procedure-in-a-box toolkit to a live instructional workshop.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Emergency procedures have been traditionally taught in live "hands on" workshops, which are expensive (tuition, travel, hotel, and leaving one's practice idle). This study was conducted to compare the teaching efficacy of a traditional live workshop to a procedure-in-a-box toolkit (PBT) method which contains audiovisual instructions and props to practice the procedures. METHODS: Four procedures, zipper release, intraosseous needle placement, fishhook removal, and splinting, were taught to 32 physician volunteers, using both teaching methods. Each participant was asked to evaluate the teaching method after each session. RESULTS: The mean educational quality of each method were not significantly different from each other, but if given a choice study subjects preferred the live workshop more often. CONCLUSION: The live workshop is the preferable method for teaching procedures but when considering expenses, most of the subjects felt that the PBT method is an adequate substitute method for the live workshop.