Development and implementation of an asynchronous emergency medicine residency curriculum using a web-based platform

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Emergency Medicine Training

Background:

• Residency programs require 5 hours of weekly didactics and 70% attendance for accreditation.
• Attendance rates are crucial benchmarks for resident progression and graduation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility and learner acceptability of a web-based, asynchronous curriculum.
• To evaluate the impact of this curriculum on resident conference participation and in-training examination scores.

Main Methods:

• Developed asynchronous modules and assessments to replace 1 hour of synchronous didactics.
• Measured feasibility (time, cost) and learner acceptability via anonymous surveys.
• Compared pre- and post-intervention conference attendance and exam scores using t-tests.

Main Results:

• The asynchronous curriculum was feasible to develop and implement.
• Postgraduate Year-1 (PGY-1) resident conference participation significantly improved (85.6% vs. 62%).
• No significant difference was detected in in-training examination scores for PGY-1 or all residents.

Conclusions:

• The asynchronous curriculum is a feasible and well-accepted educational tool.
• It effectively enhances conference participation among PGY-1 residents.
• Further refinement may be needed to address technical issues and improve exam score impact.