• Thileeban Kandasamy and Kevin Fung.
• Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Division of Head and Neck Oncology and Reconstructive Surgery, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. tkandasamy2008@meds.uwo.ca
• Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2009 Mar 1; 140 (3): 398-402.

ObjectivesTo determine the feasibility and effectiveness of virtual-patient computer-assisted instruction (CAI) in pre-clerkship undergraduate otolaryngology education.Study DesignProspective, randomized, controlled trial.Subjects And MethodsSecond-year medical students at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, were randomized into two groups: group A was given a CAI module and group B was presented with two Internet review articles, both covered specific learning objectives for pediatric stridor. Students completed randomized pre- and post-tests and a questionnaire one week later.ResultsFifty-five students completed the study with 28 in group A and 27 in group B. Mean pretest scores were 59.1% in group A and 59.8% in group B (95% CI = -7.9% to 10.4%). Mean post-test scores were significantly elevated in group A (84.6%, P < 0.001) and group B (74.3%, P = 0.008). Group A had a significantly higher (P = 0.02) mean post-test score than group B (mean difference of 10.2%). Students spent significantly more time (P < 0.001) reading text articles (25.5 minutes) than completing the CAI (9.06 minutes). Forty-one (66%) students completed the survey. Thirty-six (88%) respondents indicated that they preferred CAI to online articles.ConclusionCAI is a feasible, effective, and efficient means of enhancing self-directed learning as supplementation to the pre-clerkship undergraduate otolaryngology curriculum.

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