Effect of different single-session educational modalities on improving medical students' ability to demonstrate proper pressurized metered dose inhaler technique.

OBJECTIVE

Pressurized metered dose inhalers (pMDIs) remain important therapeutic options for obstructive lung diseases. The ability to instruct and evaluate inhaler technique is a crucial skill that all medical professionals should possess; unfortunately, many professionals lack proficiency with pMDIs. We aimed to determine if brief education interventions of differing modalities can positively affect medical students' skills over the long term.

METHODS

The baseline ability of medical students and first year residents to use pMDIs was scored via a 10-point scoring system. Students were randomized to receive no education, one-on-one instruction, or video instruction. Students were then retested immediately after the education and at the 3-month mark for retention of acquired skills.

RESULTS

Video, one-on-one and the placebo groups modalities statistically improved the average medical student's score in the immediate retesting (7.5 and 7.4 vs. 4.7, p < .01, respectively). Moreover, the proportion of passing grades at the immediate recall significantly improved for both modalities. During retention testing, only video education had a statistically significant improvement in pass rate over the control group, as defined by an average score of 7 or better (8 vs. 1, p < .05).

CONCLUSIONS

One-on-one teaching and video education were able to improve medical students' ability to use pMDIs in short-term testing. However, only video education retained significant improvement compared with control after 3 months. This suggests that compared with traditional one-on-one teaching, video education is an effective means of teaching medical students how to improve their pMDI technique.