comparison of electronic learning versus discussion-based learning methods on learning rate of medical students about sedation in the emergency room: an analytical descriptive prospective study

Background: the aim of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of two teaching models (e-learning and discussion-based learning) on the learning process of emergency department interns in relation to the use of the sedatives.methods: in this study, 129 interns introduced to the emergency medicine department were included in the study. these interns were randomly divided into two groups, i and ii. for both groups, a pre-test based on standard parallel multiple-choice questions (mcqs) was prepared. then, the electronic software which was prepared was distributed to the first group. for people of group ii, six hours of discussion-based training was conducted for 3 consecutive weeks. at the end of the course (after 1 month), a post-test, which was the same questions as the pre-test, was obtained from interns in both groups.results: at the end of the study, we found a significant improvement in the learning rate of both groups all aspects of the knowledge including: science related to the use of narcotics in sedation (p=0.01 for e-learning group and p<0.001 for discussion based group), knowledge related to the use of intravenous anesthetics for sedation(p=0.025 for e-learning group p<0.001 for discussion based group), knowledge related to definition and clinical judgments in sedation and knowledge related to the use of neuromuscular blocking agents (nmbas) for sedation (p<0.001 for both groups). however, for all the investigated results, the learning rate was significantly better in the discussion-based learning group compared to the e-learning group (p<0.001).conclusion: according to the results of this study, we found using either e-learning or discussion-based learning methods increase the acquisition of sedation knowledge for emergency department students. however, the discussion-based method have better results on the learning process of the interns.