Randomized Prospective Study Comparing the Effectiveness of Massed and Spaced Learning in Microsurgical Procedures

Hand & Reconstructive Microsurgery

Status: Completed

Conditions: Mass Learning, Spaced Learning, Microsurgery

Treatments: Other: Spaced learning

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03626025

2016/01133

Details and patient eligibility

About

Title: Randomized prospective study comparing the effectiveness of spaced learning to mass learning in microsurgical procedures.

Background:

Spacing phenomenon occurs when learning outcomes are greater with the teaching process spread out over time (spaced learning), as opposed to having the same total duration of teaching carried out over a single session (mass learning). Spaced learning has been shown to improve explicit memory tasks including free recall, recognition, cued -recall and frequency estimation. It has been used in various medical specialties with promising results and has been shown to be at least as good as mass training in learning clinical skills such as cardio-pulmonary resuscitation and laparoscopy skills.

We aim to test the concept of spaced learning in learning delicate and complex skilled procedures like microsurgery. Our hypothesis is that spaced learning is better than mass learning in acquiring microsurgical suturing skills.

Methodology:

Medical students with no prior exposure to microsurgical training were randomized into control (mass-learning) and treatment (spaced learning) groups. The students were all taught to handle microsurgical instruments and to suture a prefabricated 4mm wide elastic strip under the microscope using Digital Surgicals MicroTrainer. The control group was taught continuously over 8hrs while the treatment group was taught in 2-hour sessions held each week over a span of 4 weeks. The learning outcomes that were measured included duration taken as well as the placement of the sutures in relation to each other, with the latter being objectively assessed with the use of a computer program from Digital Surgicals. In addition to being assessed at the beginning of the sessions, all participants completed another test 1 month after the completion of the sessions.

Enrollment: 42 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 21 to 26 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Medical students

Exclusion criteria

• Anyone who has been exposed to any form of microsurgical training

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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42 participants in 2 patient groups

Mass Learning Group

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants underwent an eight-hour microsurgery training course in a single session under the mass-learning format.

Spaced Learning Group

Other group

Description:

Participants underwent two-hour microsurgery training sessions every week for a total of 4 sessions under the spaced learning format.

Treatment:

Other: Spaced learning