Study on the reporting quality of randomized controlled trials of flipped classroom in medical education

Abstract

With the deepening of medical education reform, the flipped classroom has become a commonly used teaching method. Many randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have shown that flipped classroom combined with problem-based learning improves many students' abilities. It remains unclear whether the design and reports of these RCTs comply with specifications. The aim of this study was to provide a systematic assessment of the quality of RCTs investigating the effectiveness of flipped classroom teaching in medical education. Two investigators searched PUBMED and EMBASE and analyzed 15 filtered RCTs addressing flipped classroom in medical education, published between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2021. The overall reporting quality was assessed using the overall quality score (OQS) according to the 2010 CONSORT statement. The search revealed 15 RCTs closely related to flipped classrooms. After analysis, it appeared that least half of them made no mention of half of the OQS items in the CONSORT 2010 statement. Since the flipped classroom is anemerging teaching method, all the retrieved articles were published after 2016. Furthermore, a number of issues that we considered very important were not adequately addressed in the RCT reports. Although the CONSORT 2010 statement was issued 12 years ago, the quality and content of many RCTs are not satisfactory. Our findings suggest that authors need to make more effort to meet the CONSORT statement requirements.