PS3 - 03: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO KNOW? HOW SURGICAL EXPERIENCE PREDICTS THE TYPES OF QUESTIONS ASKED IN A DIDACTIC CME COURSE
Martha Godfrey, MD1, Alexandra Rosser, BS1, Carla Pugh, MD, PhD1, Ajit Sachdeva2, Sarah Sullivan, PhD1; 1University of Wisconsin, 2American College of Surgeons Division of Education
Background: Surgeons taking continuing medical education (CME) courses possess a wide variety of backgrounds and surgical experience. As such, these surgeons may have very different learning needs which can be measured by the types of information requested by participants. This study examines the relationship between surgeons’ levels of operative experience and what types of questions they asked in the context of a CME course.
Methods: Audio-video data were collected from surgeons (n=29) participating in a simulated laparoscopic hernia repair CME course. Participants were grouped in teams of three according to their self-reported laparoscopic and hernia repair experience and performed different forms of laparoscopic hernia repairs across two separate learning sessions. Their recorded conversations were then coded for the presence of four types of questions they asked their instructors. We computed the percentages associated with how often each type of question was asked for each participant. Finally, we performed linear regressions comparing how often these questions were asked based on the participants’ self-reported levels of experience.
Results: Standard linear regressions of types of questions participants asked revealed significant differences between surgeons’ of relatively lesser and greater experience with regards to three types of questions: Requesting Guidance¸ Requesting Confirmation, and Asking About a Specific Case. Both Requesting Guidance and Requesting Confirmation were inversely proportional to surgical experience, whereas Asking About a Specific Case was directly proportional to surgical experience. Requesting Instructor Preference, on the other hand, exhibited no significant correlation with participants’ levels of experience, FIGURE 1.
Conclusion: Surgeons learning in a CME context exhibit statistically different needs as demonstrated by the types of information they request from their instructors; those with relatively less experience tend to focus on asking for confirmation and guidance, whereas those with relatively greater experience tend to focus on specific hypothetical scenarios related to their practice. This study not only gives insight into the learning needs of surgeons in CME courses, but also provides data that can be used to train the trainer by offering guidance on ways to tailor instruction to focus on content that learners of a particular level will benefit from most.
FIGURE 1
