The future is now: 2 advantages of using more modern technology in radiology resident education

Recent technological advances have changed the way residents learn new information. And according to a study published by the Journal of the American College of Radiology, it’s now time for instructors to consider changing the way they teach.

“The current generation of residents are ‘digital natives’ who prefer information to be transmitted quickly while they are simultaneously performing other tasks,” wrote Jordana Phillips, MD, department of radiology at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and colleagues. “They prefer to be involved in the learning process and like to work in groups. The perception that information is relatively static and can be documented in books is outdated, as new technology enables students to access the most current information in a moment.”

To test the effectiveness of newer technology, Phillips et al. examined how an educational video created with an Apple iPad impacted radiology residents. The video, on how to perform a stereotactic core biopsy, was created with the iPad application Explain Everything. The authors said such videos, if successful, could be a big step in upgrading their institution’s overall curriculum.

“Currently, our breast imaging curriculum is fairly standard and includes 32 didactic sessions per year, each 45 min in length, as well as apprenticeship-style training during the clinical day,” the authors wrote. “Our residents and fellows participate in nearly all cases through supervised interpretation, management planning, reporting of screening and diagnostic cases, planning and performing procedures, communication with patients, and presenting at conferences. Our hypothesis was that these educational videos would help standardize and improve the traditional resident experience and would help ensure that all residents complete residency with the same knowledge base.”

Overall, Phillips and colleagues found that the iPad-produced video “added significantly” to short-term resident learning. These are two specific ways residents could benefit from being exposed to such videos on a regular basis.

1. Educational videos can significantly improve resident learning

Thirty radiology residents were tested both before and after gaining access to the video, showing a mean improvement of more than 30 percent. Control questions, covering information not explained in the video, were included in the tests; the same residents showed no improvement when it came to those questions.

“When the individual test questions were analyzed, there was improvement on every question related to video content,” the authors wrote.

2. Educational videos can provide residents with more consistency

Using more videos can help resident education become more consistent.

“It is well known that one clinician educator may explain a procedure or a topic better than the next,” the authors wrote. “Unfortunately, not all residents may be exposed to that particular attending and that experience during their rotations. This is true both in larger practices at which residents are exposed to many different attending physicians, as well as smaller practices at which no enthusiastic clinical educators are present.”

The authors added that their study did have limitations. There was no control group, for instance, though the use of control questions “helps mitigate these factors.” Another limitation they mentioned was that this study focused on short-term learning, but not long-term outcomes.

“We can expect that long-term retention would likely decrease without quality exposure and testing of the stereotactic core biopsy material,” the authors wrote. “That said, additional study in the radiology field is necessary to evaluate this.”