The Effect of a Microlearning Module on Knowledge Acquisition in Surgery Clerkship Students

Microlearning has been found to be beneficial in other areas of healthcare education. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a microlearning module compared to a traditional online learning module in undergraduate medical education.

A microlearning module was developed to cover the etiology and management of gallbladder disease. Surgery clerkship students were randomized into 2 groups. One group began with the microlearning module (MLM). The second group began with a 45 minute commercially available module centered on gallbladder disease (WISE-MD™). Halfway through the clerkship, the groups crossed over to the other learning intervention. Student knowledge was assessed with a test at three time points (pre-test, post-test1, post-test2).

Third year surgery clerkship students at George Washington University.

There were 56 students in the MLM and 57 in WISE-MDTM groups. In the MLM group, mean scores significantly increased from pre-test to post-test1 and pre-test to post-test2, but significantly decreased from post-test1 to post-test2. In the WISE-MD™ group, mean scores significantly increased from pre-test to post-test1 and pre-test to post-test2, with no significant change from post-test1 to post-test2. After the initial intervention, test scores of post-test1 of the MLM group were significantly higher than the WISE-MD™ group, while there were no significant differences between groups at the pre-test or post-test2 time points.

Students exposed to the microlearning module first performed significantly better on a post intervention test than students that used a commercially available product in our standard curriculum. Therefore, the use of microlearning modules may lead to improved knowledge acquisition in surgery clerkship students.