Evaluation of Blended Learning Method Versus Traditional Learning Method of Clinical Examination Skills in Physiology Among Undergraduate Medical Students in an Indian Medical College

Abstract

Introduction Clinical skills are crucial for medical professionals and are a vital part of a physician's identity. Medical students start learning these skills during their pre-clinical years of study. However, little research has been done on how novice medical students learn to improve these skills. Along with traditional teaching-learning methods, an approach to incorporating e-learning into medical education is through blended learning, which combines traditional classroom instruction with online learning activities. Objective This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of blended learning and traditional learning methods in teaching clinical examination skills to first-year undergraduate medical students by evaluating the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) test scores. Methodology This was a two-arm prospective cross-over randomized study involving first-year MBBS students. The experimental group (group A) received blended learning, while the control group (group B) received traditional learning for the cardiovascular system examination (phase 1). The groups were then switched for the respiratory system examination (phase 2). An unpaired student t-test was used to compare the mean OSCE scores between the experimental and control groups in each phase, with statistical significance defined as a p-value < 0.05. Results The study involved 25 students in each group during phase 1 and 22 students in each group during phase 2. The experimental group had a mean age of 18.4 (±0.96) years in phase 1 and 18.35 (±1) years in phase 2, while the control group had a mean age of 18.06 (±1.04) years in phase 1 and 18.55 (±0.74) years in phase 2. In phase 1, the experimental group had a higher mean OSCE score (43 {±2.92}) than the control group (26.4 {±2}) (p <0.001). After switching in phase 2, the experimental group (previously the control group) had a higher mean OSCE score (47.82 {±1.68}) than the control group (33.59 {±1.59}) (p <0.001). Conclusion Blended learning is more effective than traditional learning in teaching clinical examination skills to medical undergraduate students. This study suggests that blended learning has the potential to replace the traditional method of learning clinical skills.