Evaluating Educational Interventions in Emergency Medicine

Abstract

This article presents the proceedings of the 2012 Academic Emergency Medicine consensus conference breakout group charged with identifying areas necessary for future research regarding effectiveness of educational interventions for teaching emergency medicine (EM) knowledge, skills, and attitudes outside of the clinical setting. The objective was to summarize both medical and nonmedical education literature and report the consensus formation methods and results. The authors present final statements to guide future research aimed at evaluating the best methods for understanding and developing successful EM curricula using all types of educational interventions.ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE 2012; 19:1442-1453© 2012 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine T he May 2012 Academic Emergency Medicine consensus conference "Education Research in Emergency Medicine: Opportunities, Challenges, and Strategies for Success" represented the culmination of the efforts of interested medical educators in determining the current state and future direction of research in emergency medicine (EM) education. This article summarizes the efforts of our breakout session evaluating current knowledge regarding educational interventions in EM and identifying prioritized future directions for research.We reviewed the literature and outcome data on currently available teaching methods. Greatest importance was placed on higher-level outcome data using Kirkpatrick's evaluation model. 1 In this model, there are four levels of evaluation that roughly proceed from the easiest to measure to the most difficult and time-consuming. The first level is reaction and encompasses participant satisfaction and attitudes about the educational intervention. These outcomes are relatively easy to measure through questionnaires given to the participants and are thus common in evaluation studies. The second level is learning, which focuses on changes in knowledge, skills, and attitudes or values. These outcomes are commonly measured through tests and similar assessment tools. The third level is behavior as demonstrated in what the participants can do in the context of relevant tasks and situations. Common measures of this level of outcomes are standardized patient interactions, simulation, and case scenarios. The fourth level is results and is measured in the context of real-world practice. The current emphasis on work-based assessment 2,3 and multisource assessments 4 are examples of measures that seek to quantify these performance outcomes.

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