Implications of Interactive Online Medical Education for TCOM Musculoskeletal Education

Purpose:

In the modern medical curriculum, students are required to learn increasing amounts of information, and the ability to adapt and expand the threshold of fundamental concepts is becoming increasingly important. Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the medical education system to adapt to a new challenge - delivering a comprehensive medical education to students remotely without compromising the quality of education. As a result, online interactive learning modules were introduced into the second exam portion of the TCOM Musculoskeletal Systems 2 (MSS2) course. This study aims to retrospectively review the effects of this online, interactive, module-based format.

Methods:

A retrospective review was performed to compare student performance before and after the implementation of these pandemic related changes. De-identified student data (n=685) from the 2019 pre-pandemic cohort and the 2020 and 2021 post-pandemic cohorts were utilized for the study. The dataset included student cumulative medical school GPA prior to the beginning of the course, class quartile rank, MSS2 exam scores and final course grades. Standard post-course surveys were utilized for the qualitative portion of the analysis, and an additional course satisfaction survey administered via google polls was added for the purpose of collecting anonymous student feedback and suggestions for improvement. Quantitative analysis was conducted on parametric and non-parametric variables. For parametric variables, the independent sample T-test was utilized to assess significant differences in a number of different variables, including both broad and specific statistical questions regarding the data.

Results:

The implementation of the online musculoskeletal modules correlated to a significant difference between the course grades of the 2019 and 2020 cohorts with mean scores of 88.4 and 87.2 respectively (p=.025). A significant improvement was found in the second exam for the 2019 and 2020 cohorts (p=.006), whereas no significant difference was revealed between the first exam grades of the two cohorts (p = 0.49). The data analysis from the two years following the pandemic demonstrated a successful implementation of online modules with the significant improvement of exam grades in the second exam where the modules were incorporated, including in the 2021 cohort. These significant findings indicate a benefit of introducing such modules into the second exam. Post-course surveys revealed that 57% of students want to see interactive modules in future courses, with an additional 28% being neutral.

Conclusions:

The addition of interactive modules to the MSS2 curriculum was beneficial as students were able perform significantly better on the relevant exam material despite entering the course with significantly lower GPAs. Furthermore, the majority of students responded positively to the possibility of seeing interactive modules used in future courses.