Poster4 - 09: THE USE OF JEOPARDY AS A TOOL FOR SURGICAL EDUCATION
Maxwell S Wagner, Samir J Abu-Hamad, Burgess Jessica, MD, Britt C Rebecca, MD; Eastern Virginia Medical School

Introduction: Surgical interns are faced with a steep learning curve in caring for patients, and are responsible for responding to an array of situations acutely.  Millennial learners are used to an electronic environment and respond to this modern modality.  Jeopardy is a game-show format that has been used by national organizations such as the American College of Surgeons to assess knowledge and deliver information.  We developed a jeopardy-based educational tool to teach common surgical knowledge relevant to an intern.  The objective of this project was to evaluate using Jeopardy format question and answer as a teaching method for surgical training.

Methods:  Two games of Jeopardy were developed by faculty experts covering 12 common surgical topics.  The PGY 1 surgical interns and 4th year medical students interested in surgery participated in the educational experience.  They were given a 24 question pre-test then had 2 hour sessions of Jeopardy including time taken to review answers.  They then completed a 24 question post-test and a survey of the experience.  The PGY 2 and 3 residents were given the pre-test and post-test as a comparative group.  

Results: 11 medical students and PGY 1 residents completed all phases of the educational session, with 100% completing the post-educational survey.  10 PGY 2 and 3 residents completed only the testing as a comparative group.  While the scores improved from the pre-test to the post-test after the jeopardy session, this was not significant(82.4%vs86.1%,p=0.8).  The comparative group had lower scores, although this also was not significant. The highest scoring group on both tests was the 4th year medical students.  100% surveyed agreed the session was beneficial, 91% felt working in a group was beneficial, 91% felt they gained new knowledge, and 100% felt the format should be used in the future.  All learners reported increased confidence in handling common on-call scenarios after the session. 

Conclusions: Jeopardy-style learning is an effective teaching method, with learners reporting improved knowledge and confidence.  All surgical residents should be included in reinforcement of knowledge of common surgical topics.  Further study of the use of gamification is warranted.