Digital teaching and assessment of psychomotor skills of the clinical head and neck examination during COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Purpose During COVID-19, a fully digital course was established for teaching and assessing the psychomotor skills of clinical head and neck examination. Influence of different digital teaching formats was investigated. Methods The students (n = 286) received disposable instruments, a manual, and instructional videos for the examination. 221 students additionally received 45 min of interactive teleteaching. After 5 days of practice, all students were required to submit a video of their examination and report their spent practice time. The assessment was carried out using a checklist which was already established in presence teaching. Results The average score achieved by digital teaching was 86%. Previously published data show that presence teaching achieved 94%. With a teleteaching unit the total score was significantly better than without (87% vs 83%). Teleteaching leads to a significant positive correlation between practice time and total score. Without teleteaching there is a negative correlation. After the same practice time, presence teaching leads to better total scores than digital teaching. Conclusion Digital teaching and assessing of a complex psychomotor skill is possible. Interactive teaching methods increase learning success. Nevertheless, presence teaching seems to be better at teaching these skills. The results can provide a basis for developing hybrid teaching models.

Enhancing Nurses’ Disaster Management and Preparedness: Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Online Educational Program Through a Quasi-Experimental Study

“…For complex disaster situations that require advanced decision making and psychomotor skills, face-to-face teaching methods are recommended. 33 While combining online and face-to-face approaches can enhance nurses’ competency in disaster preparedness and management, there is still a gap in determining the most effective approaches to cover the full spectrum of disaster management in emergency nursing practice over a longer duration. 34 , 35 Thus, it is suggested to apply a blended approach that includes online and face-to-face teaching strategies to effectively improve disaster preparedness and management levels, addressing both cognitive and psychomotor skills.…”