The effect of peer-group size on the delivery of feedback in basic life support refresher training: a cluster randomized controlled trial

Abstract

BackgroundStudents are largely providing feedback to one another when instructor facilitates peer feedback rather than teaching in group training. The number of students in a group affect the learning of students in the group training. We aimed to investigate whether a larger group size increases students’ test scores on a post-training test with peer feedback facilitated by instructor after video-guided basic life support (BLS) refresher training. Students’ one-rescuer adult BLS skills were assessed by a 2-min checklist-based test 1 year after the initial training.MethodsA cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of student number in a group on BLS refresher training. Participants included 115 final-year medical students undergoing their emergency medicine clerkship. The median number of students was 8 in the large groups and 4 in the standard group. The primary outcome was to examine group differences in post-training test scores after video-guided BLS training. Secondary outcomes included the feedback time, number of feedback topics, and results of end-of-training evaluation questionnaires.ResultsScores on the post-training test increased over three consecutive tests with instructor-led peer feedback, but not differ between large and standard groups. The feedback time was longer and number of feedback topics generated by students were higher in standard groups compared to large groups on the first and second tests. The end-of-training questionnaire revealed that the students in large groups preferred the smaller group size compared to their actual group size.ConclusionsIn this BLS refresher training, the instructor-led group feedback increased the test score after tutorial video-guided BLS learning, irrespective of the group size. A smaller group size allowed more participations in peer feedback.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12909-016-0682-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Critical Appraisal of Emergency Medicine Educational Research: The Best Publications of 2016

“…Similar to prior years, the most common study populations were medical students (21/75; 28%) and residents (48/75; 64%) . Interestingly, this year only one study addressing medical students was highlighted for excellence, in contrast to prior years.…”

“…In response to a call for increased rigor in medical education research, EM education researchers increasingly apply thorough methodologic standards and evaluate higher level outcomes in their research studies. In 2016, there was a notable increase in the number of studies utilizing an experimental (hypothesis testing) design, 15 of 75 (20%), compared to nine of 611(5%) in 2015. Three of these studies with an experimental design were highlighted .…”

“…As the EM community has settled into the next accreditation system, there are likely fewer unanswered questions regarding this topic, which may account for this decline. In place of assessment we have seen the resurgence of studies evaluating teaching and learning methods, which comprised 36% of reviewed articles in 2014, was not seen in 2015 and now makes up 20% of the included articles in this year's review. Similarly, curriculum evaluation studies that made up 38% of studies in 2013 dropped to 10% in 2015 and have again risen to 20% in 2016.…”

Group Optimization to Maximize Peer Assessment Accuracy Using Item Response Theory and Integer Programming

“…For PropG, the FI values were calculated using the true parameter values. The number of groups is usually determined so that each group comprises 3-14 members while maintaining the number as equal as possible for all groups [32], [72]- [74]. This experiment used G ¼ 3; 4; and 5 because the number of group members falls within this range when J 2 f15; 30g.…”

Pre-clinical medical student cardiac point-of-care ultrasound curriculum based on the American Society of Echocardiography recommendations: a pilot and feasibility study

“…Both the 2-student group and the 1-student group did not raise concerns regarding time management and e ciency. However, during the 2-student group session, we observed the potential for positive or negative peer interactions affecting learning experiences, which could lead to intervention heterogeneity within or between groups, and interfere with consistency and continuity of individualized instructor feedback [34]. A study that compared constant instructor feedback to intermittent feedback with peer feedback in chiropractic skill training demonstrated that constant feedback was advantageous for accurate skill acquisition and initial hands-on practice, while the intermittent feedback was advantageous for long-term skill retention [35].…”