Knowledge-based errors in anesthesia: a paired, controlled trial of learning and retention

Purpose Optimizing patient safety by improving the training of physicians is a major challenge of medical education. In this pilot study, we hypothesized that a brief lecture, targeted to rare but potentially dangerous situations, could improve anesthesia practitioners’ knowledge levels with signifi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian journal of anesthesia 2009, Vol.56 (1), p.35-45
Main Authors: Goldhaber-Fiebert, Sara N., Goldhaber-Fiebert, Jeremy D., Rosow, Carl E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anesthesia
Anesthesia. Intensive care medicine. Transfusions. Cell therapy and gene therapy
Anesthesiology
Anesthesiology - education
Biological and medical sciences
Cardiology
Critical Care Medicine
Education, Medical - methods
Educational Measurement
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Intensive
Knowledge acquisition
Learning
Medical education
Medical errors
Medical Errors - prevention & control
Medical Errors - psychology
Medical personnel
Medical sciences
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Morbidity
Mortality
Pain Medicine
Patient safety
Pediatrics
Pneumology/Respiratory System
Prospective Studies
Public speaking
Reports of Original Investigations
Retention
Retention (Psychology)
Teaching
Teaching - methods
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Summary:Purpose Optimizing patient safety by improving the training of physicians is a major challenge of medical education. In this pilot study, we hypothesized that a brief lecture, targeted to rare but potentially dangerous situations, could improve anesthesia practitioners’ knowledge levels with significant retention of learning at six months. Methods In this paired controlled trial, anesthesia residents and attending physicians at Massachusetts General Hospital took the same 14-question multiple choice examination three times: at baseline, immediately after a brief lecture, and six months later. The lecture covered material on seven “intervention” questions; the remaining seven were “control” questions. The authors measured immediate knowledge acquisition, defined as the change in percentage of correct answers on intervention questions between baseline and post-lecture, and measured learning retention as the difference between baseline and six months. Both measurements were corrected for change in performance on control questions. Results Fifty of the 89 subjects completed all three examinations. The post-lecture increase in percentage of questions answered correctly, adjusted for control, was 22.2% [95% confidence interval (CI) 16.0–28.4%; P  
ISSN:0832-610X
1496-8975
DOI:10.1007/s12630-008-9002-9