title: Distributed practice. The more the merrier? A randomised bronchoscopy simulation study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The distribution of practice affects the acquisition of skills. Distributed practice has shown to be more effective for skills acquisition than massed training. However, it remains unknown as to which is the most effective distributed practice schedule for learning bronchoscopy skills through simulation training. This study compares two distributed practice schedules: One-day distributed practice and weekly distributed practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty physicians in training were randomly assigned to one-day distributed or weekly distributed bronchoscopy simulation practice. Performance was assessed with a pre-test, a post-test after each practice session, and a 4-week retention test using previously validated simulator measures. Data were analysed with repeated measures ANOVA.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No interaction was found between group and test (F(4,72) <1.68, p>0.16), except for the measure 'percent-segments-entered', and no main effect of group was found for any of the measures (F(1,72)< 0.87, p>0.36), which indicates that there was no difference between the learning curves of the one-day distributed practice schedule and the weekly distributed practice schedule.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found no difference in effectiveness of bronchoscopy skills acquisition between the one-day distributed practice and the weekly distributed practice. This finding suggests that the choice of bronchoscopy training practice may be guided by what best suits the clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Diseases, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark; annbjerr@rm.dk.
authors.forename: Anne Sofie
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Bjerrum
authors.affiliation: Rector's Office, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: Berit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Eika
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Sciences Education, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: Peder
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Charles
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Diseases, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: Ole
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hilberg
mesh_terms: D001999:Bronchoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D002983:Clinical Competence; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate / Q000379:methods*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D006801:Humans; D000066908:Simulation Training; D014584:User-Computer Interface
keywords: bronchoscopy; curriculum design; medical education; simulation; training methods