Does tailoring instructional style to a medical student’s self-perceived learning style improve performance when teaching intravenous catheter placement? A randomized controlled study

BMC Medical Education

Research Article

Shruti Chandra¹  Nicole Piela¹  Gregory K. Wanner¹  Dimitrios Papanagnou¹  Nicholas Governatori¹  Richard Shin²  Kaitlyn Barkley³  Antonio Serrano³ 

[1] Department of Emergency Medicine, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, 1020 Sansom Street, 1651 Thompson Building, 19107, Philadelphia, PA, USA;Department of Emergency Medicine, State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center, 450 Clarkson Avenue, 11203, Brooklyn, NY, USA;Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, 1020 Sansom Street, 1651 Thompson Building, 19107, Philadelphia, PA, USA;

关键词: Learning Style;    Teaching Style;    Didactic Session;    Faculty Instructor;    Style Modality;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12909-016-0720-3

 received in 2016-05-22, accepted in 2016-07-28,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundStudents may have different learning styles. It is unclear, however, whether tailoring instructional methods for a student’s preferred learning style improves educational outcomes when teaching procedures. The authors sought to examine whether teaching to a student’s self-perceived learning style improved the acquisition of intravenous (IV) catheter placement skills. The authors hypothesized that matching a medical student’s preferred learning style with the instructor’s teaching style would increase the success of placing an IV catheter.MethodsUsing the VARK model (i.e., visual [V], auditory [A], read/write [R] and kinesthetic [K]), third-year medical students reported their self-perceived learning style and were subsequently randomized to instructors who were trained to teach according to a specific learning format (i.e., visual, auditory). Success was gauged by: 1) the placement of an IV on the first attempt and 2) the number of attempts made until an IV line was successfully placed.ResultsThe average number of attempts in the matched learning style group was 1.53, compared to 1.64 in the unmatched learning style group; however, results were not statistically significant. Both matched and unmatched groups achieved a similar success rate (57 and 58 %, respectively). Additionally, a comparison of success between the unmatched and matched students within each learning style modality yielded no statistical significance.ConclusionsResults suggest that providing procedural instruction that is congruent with a student’s self-perceived learning style does not appear to improve outcomes when instructing students on IV catheter placement.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2016