Development and Prospective Evaluation of a Multimedia Teaching Course on Aortic Valve Replacement

Abstract BACKGROUND: Participation in heart surgery requires procedural and factual knowledge and intensive preparation. There is evidence in the literature that multimedia driven learning has advantages in medical fields where an understanding of complex temporal and spatial events plays an important role. This work describes the development and evaluation of a multimedia driven, online teaching course on aortic valve replacement for students and residents. METHODS: The instructional model followed a methodological approach with scalable information for different user groups. Various interactive multimedia development tools were employed. In a prospective study, 20 students and 10 residents were exposed to the program in a standardized environment. Both groups completed a 20-item multiple choice pre- and post-test. Psychometric evaluation with HILVE (Heidelberg inventory for the evaluation of teaching courses, 50 items) was performed. RESULTS: The multimedia course integrates more than 200 high quality surgical video and audio sequences, interactive 2 D and 3 D models, as well as illustrations and text. It is available at www.lamedica.de. Study time in the student group was 103 ± 11 min and 70 ± 10 min in the resident group. Mean number of correct responses to the knowledge pre-test was 6.23 ± 2.71 in the student group and 12.2 ± 2.66 in the resident group. Mean number of correct responses to the knowledge post-test was 15.24 ± 2.06 in the student group (P < 0.0001 vs. pre-test) and 17 ± 2.98 in the resident group (P = 0.004 vs. pre-test). The HILVE test showed positive results for teaching conditions, the program's instructional competence, student motivation and individual learning. CONCLUSION: Our data demonstrate that multimedia driven training can adapt to the individual needs of learners and improves procedural knowledge required for open heart surgery. Consequently, the whole course forms part of the training of residents and students.