comparing efficacy of implementing two teaching methods

abstract background and purpose:     method:     results:     conclusion:     key words:     journal of medical education winter and spring 2007; 11 (1,2): 27-36 ecg interpretation, emergency medicine residents, internal medicine residents our study revealed that the overall scores in ecg interpretation are low and the ecginterpretation skill in im residents was better compared to em residents. we demonstrated that thereare several weaknesses in ecg interpretation which may have an important role in treatment ofpatients. therefore there is a need for more and better ecg training programs especially in cardiacemergencies. after classification of groups, the overall mean score was 45.5/100 (38-60). the mean scoreof im and em residents was 56.0/100 (44.9-72) and 38.9/100 (31.5-45.5), respectively (p< 0.001).no significant correlation was found between the diagnosis scores and participant’s self-judgmenton her/his ecg interpretation skills (p=0.897, r=0.017). five ecgs were considered as the mostimportant and analysis revealed the overall mean score (out of 6) of participants was 5 for mi, 4.4 forventricular tachycardia, 1.18 for pericarditis, 5.91 for wpw, and 5.09 for pulmonary emboli. 63 participants including 33 im residents and 30 em residents from two education hospitalsof shahid beheshti university of medical sciences were enrolled in our study. a diagnosis testconsisting of 15 ecg samples associated with a questionnaire containing questions about gender,academic year and proficiency in ecg interpretation was taken from all participants. this study wasconducted under the supervision of a cardiologist and an emergency specialist who supervised theecg selection, answers and scoring of each ecg. the maximum score for each ecg was 6 which weregiven to a completely correct diagnosis and -0.25 negative point was given if the answer was wrongor any differential diagnosis was mentioned. after the test, the answer sheets were collected and wereanalyzed with spss program, by two of study authors who were kept blind to the real identities ofparticipants. electrocardiogram (ecg) is one of the most commonly performed investigations in cardiac diseases and ecg abnormalities can reveal the early manifestations of cardiac ischemia, metabolic disorders, or life-threatening disrhythmias. misinterpretation of ecg and its consequent mistreatment or performing inessential interventions may cause life-threatening cardiac events. since em residents and internal medicine (im) residents are usually the first to visit at bedside and start treatments based on patient’s ecg, we intended to evaluate the ability of em residents to interpret ecgs and to compare it with that of im residents using various ecg samples.