Effect of Small Group Discussion in Residency Education Versus Conventional Education

Introduction:There are various methods of training for medical students in different colleges. Fast knowledge transfer and maximum learning are the main goals of education. Due to the limited time and also high volume of content knowledge during residency, using the best methods of training can play an important role in enhancing the skills of residents. In the current study, small group discussion as a teaching method was compared with the traditional method.

Methods:In this cohort study, two groups of residents that had finished a 4-year course of orthopedic residency training programs in Tabriz and Urmia universities of medical sciences was being examined. They were divided in two groups. In order to compare the impact of the training on residents, it was compared with the result of the State Board standardized exam. The number of residents passing the written test and the Objective Structural Clinical Examination (OSCE) per year have been identified and compared with the groups under investigation.

Results:Fifty-one residents, including 4 women (7.8%) and 47 men (92.2%), were studied for this purpose. Success rate for the small group discussion in the written exam was 59.2% and in the OSCE was 24% (95% CI). On the other hand, the success rates for the group who were trained in the traditional way were 37% and 16.6% in the written exam and OSCE, respectively. In both cases the differences were significant.

Conclusion:The small group discussion method is an effective method in residency training in surgical fields that increases medical students’ learning abilities compared to traditional methods of education.