comparison of teaching the method of interpretation of orbscan ii using conventional teaching versus a computer-based software program in residents of ophthalmology affiliated to shahid beheshti university of medical sciences

purpose: to evaluate the effect of a multimedia software program on the ability of interpreting orbscan ii outprints in ophthalmology residents, affiliated to shahid beheshti university of medical sciences, and compared the results with the conventional teaching method. methods: this prosepective randomized crossover study enrolled 17 ophthalmology residents (11 second year and 6 third year). a multimedia software program was used to teach how to interpret orbscan ii outprints as well as normal and abnormal values of each parameter. prevoius knowledge was evaluated using a pretest. therafter, the participants were randomly devided into two groups. in group 1, free discussion was used to deliver materials, while group 2 received the materials through the multimedia software program. after taking posttest 1, two groups were translocated. posttest 2 was performed 2 weeks after the completion of the study. results:  nine residents were enrolled in group 1 and 8 in group 2. mean participant age was 29.1±1.7 years (range, 27 to 32 years) and 29.1±1.7 years (range, 27 to 32 years) in groups 1 and 2, respectively (p=0.81). male-to-female ratio was 7/2 in group 1 and 6/2 in group 2 (p=0.82). second-year residents constituted 66.7% of participants in group 1 and 62.5% of participants in group 2 (p=0.91). the results of pretest were comparable between the study groups. a significant increased in posttest 1 score was obsereved in group 1. however, the software program could not result in a significant increase in the pretest 1 score in group 2. posttest 2 score was signifcantly higher in both study groups as compared to pretest score. conclusion: only the traditional method could increase the ablity of interpreting orbscan ii out prints in ophthalmology residents, affiliated to shahid beheshti university of medical sciences, while the multimedia software failed to significantly increase this ability.