Facilitating Adaptive Expertise in Learning Computed Tomography (FAIL CT)

Stanford University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Learning; Error Management Training; Adaptive Expertise

Treatments: Other: Error Avoidance Training; Other: Error Management Training (Easy); Other: Error Management Training (Difficult)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05284838

64099

Details and patient eligibility

About

The main objective of this study is to demonstrate that Error Management Training improves adaptive expertise in head computed tomography interpretation. The investigators will conduct a randomized controlled trial comparing two learning strategies, Error Management Training vs Error Avoidance Training, in emergency medicine residents. The investigators hypothesize that Error Management Training, as compared to Error Avoidance Training, will improve adaptive expertise, as measured by skills transfer, when used to teach head computed tomography interpretation to emergency medicine residents.

Full description

Adaptive expertise is the ability to apply existing skills to novel situations. Adaptive expertise enables physicians to reduce preventable medical errors when managing clinical scenarios not encountered during training. However, residency curricula rarely address this learning outcome. Error Management Training improves transfer of skills to new contexts and develops adaptive expertise. Although this methodology has been shown to improve adaptive expertise in procedural skills, its impact on cognitive skills in medical training remains underexplored. Error Management Training promises to improve patient care by developing emergency physicians' adaptive expertise. However, the investigators need further evidence for its efficacy with cognitive skills in residency training. The investigators aim to demonstrate that Error Management Training improves adaptive expertise in a cognitive skill, using head computed tomography interpretation as a model.

Enrollment: 150 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Study participation will be available to all current emergency medicine residents at Stanford and at thirteen external sites.

Exclusion criteria

• Adults unable to consent
• Pregnant women
• Individuals who are not yet adults (infants, children, teenagers)
• Prisoners
• Medical students
• Residents from specialties other than emergency medicine

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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150 participants in 3 patient groups

Error Management Training (Difficult)

Experimental group

Description:

Participants receive the learning strategy Error Management Training and encounter difficult questions.

Treatment:

Other: Error Management Training (Difficult)

Error Management Training (Easy)

Experimental group

Description:

Participants receive the learning strategy Error Management Training and encounter easy questions.

Treatment:

Other: Error Management Training (Easy)

Error Avoidance Training

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants receive the learning strategy Error Avoidance Training.

Treatment:

Other: Error Avoidance Training