Effectiveness of lectures attended via interactive video conferencing versus in-person in preparing third-year internal medicine clerkship students for Clinical Practice Examinations (CPX).
BACKGROUND
The current practice in medical education is to place students at off-site locations. The effectiveness of these students attending remote lectures using interactive videoconferencing needs to be evaluated.


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether lecture content covering clinical objectives is learned by medical students located at remote sites.


METHODS
During the University of Vermont medicine clerkship, 52 medical students attended lectures both in person and via 2-way videoconferencing over a telemedicine network. The study used a crossover design, such that all students attended half of the lectures in person and half using videoconferencing. At the end of the clerkship, students were assessed via a Clinical Practice Examination (CPX), with each student completing 1 exam for material learned in person and 1 for material learned over telemedicine.


RESULTS
Exam scores did not differ for the 2 lecture modes, with a mean score of 76% for lectures attended in person and a mean score of 78% for lectures attended via telemedicine (p = 0.66).


CONCLUSIONS
Students learn content focused on clinical learning objectives as well using videoconferencing as they do in the traditional classroom setting.
Bertsch
Tania F
TF
General Internal Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, Vermont 05405, USA.
Callas
Peter W
PW
Rubin
Alan
A
Caputo
Michael P
MP
Ricci
Michael A
MA
D000328:Adult; D002982:Clinical Clerkship; D020375:Education, Distance; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000193:education*; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*; D014707:Vermont; D049269:Videoconferencing