Educational instruction on a hospital information system for medical students during their surgical rotations

To evaluate the benefit, for medical students on their surgical rotations, of real-time educational instruction during order entry on a hospital information system.

Prospective controlled trial.

Access to educational information during computerized order entry.

Medical students in their final year at the University of Calgary.

Attainment of the surgery rotation educational objectives, as measured by performance on a multiple-choice examination.

Before they began their surgical rotations, students at two hospitals took a multiple-choice examination to measure their knowledge of surgery. One hospital had an information system with computerized order entry; students at this hospital had access, while composing orders, to educational material on the system. The other hospital did not have an information system; students there wrote orders on a paper chart. At the end of the rotation, all students took another multiple-choice examination.

Of 50 eligible students, 45 agreed to participate in the project, 21 in the treatment group and 24 in the control group. Pre-rotation scores were similar for the two groups (43 percent in the treatment group and 40 percent in the control group; SD, 10 percent). Post-rotation scores were identical for the two groups (65 percent in the treatment group and 65 percent in the control group; SD, 12 percent). A t-test analysis revealed no significant difference in performance on the examinations between the two groups.

This study did not demonstrate a learning advantage for medical students who have access to educational material on a hospital information system.