An Observational Study of 3 Different Transfusion Medicine Teaching Methods for Medical Students

Knowledge deficits of transfusion medicine are prevalent among learners and practicing physicians. In the past, the transfusion medicine community has thoughtfully defined the content of transfusion medicine curriculums through Transfusion Medicine Academic Award Group and The Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists. The manner in which the curriculum should be delivered has been less carefully examined and defined. We completed an observational study in which we analyzed 3 different teaching techniques: in-person faculty-led simulation curriculum consisting of didactic session and simulation (“Simulation group”); hybrid education with a combination of online materials and short in-person simulation (“Hybrid group”); and online-only education module, which delivered the whole curricular content through a variety of online materials and videos (“Online-only group”). Knowledge acquisition was assessed with a 10-question multiple-choice questionnaire, and satisfaction was assessed by a 9-question online student satisfaction survey. A total of 276 second-year medical students participated in the study. There was statistically significant difference between pre- and posttest results and in knowledge gain favoring the Simulation group as compared with the Online-only group (P =.03, P <.0001) and favoring the Simulation group as compared with the Hybrid group (P =.004, P <.0001). The Simulation group and Hybrid group medical students were also more satisfied with the education activity as compared with the Online-only group (P <.0001, P <.001). Our study demonstrated that a faculty-run transfusion medicine simulation curriculum consisting of an in-person didactic session and simulation session for the second-year medical students produced greater immediate knowledge acquisition compared with an online only or a hybrid curriculum. Furthermore, any curriculum that contained in-person teaching by faculty was preferred over the online only education.