Background and aimsThis study investigated the effectiveness of two different levels of e-learning when teaching clinical skills to medical students.Materials and methodsSixty medical students were included and randomized into two comparable groups. The groups were given either a video- or text/picture-based e-learning module and subsequently underwent both theoretical and practical examination. A follow-up test was performed 1 month later.ResultsThe students in the video group performed better than the illustrated text-based group in the practical examination, both in the primary test (P<0.001) and in the follow-up test (P<0.01). Regarding theoretical knowledge, no differences were found between the groups on the primary test, though the video group performed better on the follow-up test (P=0.04).ConclusionVideo-based e-learning is superior to illustrated text-based e-learning when teaching certain practical clinical skills.