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J Educ Health Promot
J Educ Health Promot
JEHP
J Edu Health Promot
Journal of Education and Health Promotion
2277-9531
2319-6440
Wolters Kluwer - Medknow India

JEHP-13-278
10.4103/jehp.jehp_1109_23
Brief Report
Effectiveness of multimedia-based teaching on the learning rate of anesthesia technologist students in the field of central venous pressure monitoring: A comparative study
Moradimajd Parisa
Khonkdar Kimia
Maroufi Shahnam Sedigh
Abolghasemi Jamileh 1
Department of Anesthesia, Allied Medical School, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
1 Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Iran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran
Address for correspondence: Ms. Kimia Khonkdar, Department of Anesthesia, Allied Medical School, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. E-mail: khonakdar.2150@gmail.com
2024
29 7 2024
13 27825 7 2023
16 11 2023
Copyright: © 2024 Journal of Education and Health Promotion
2024
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
BACKGROUND:

Traditional teaching methods alone are no longer sufficient to meet the needs of modern societies. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of central venous pressure teaching through multimedia and lecture method on learning rate of anesthesia technologist students.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

In this quasi-experimental study, 41 undergraduate students of anesthesia technologist were selected through the census method and randomly divided into two groups: multimedia- and lecture-based teaching. The educational content was the same for both groups and was taught by the same educator. A pre-test was administered to both groups, and a post-test was conducted two weeks after the intervention. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, and paired t-test with SPSS software version 26.

RESULTS:

Before the intervention, there was no significant difference in the mean scores between the two groups (P = 0.648). However, after the intervention, the learning rate significantly improved in both teaching methods (P < 0.001). Furthermore, the mean scores obtained from post-test increase in the multimedia-based group were significantly higher than the lecture-based group (P = 0.004).

CONCLUSION:

The results of this study indicate the effectiveness of both methods. However, considering the advantages of multimedia-based teaching, such as responding to various learning styles and higher mean scores obtained from post-test of the multimedia-based group compared to the lecture-based group, it is recommended to utilize this teaching method in medical science courses.

Anesthesia
central venous pressure
lecture
multimedia
teaching
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pmcIntroduction

One of the most important principles of education is the selection of an effective teaching method, which plays a prominent role in the learning and teaching process.[12] In recent decades, the rapid development of educational technologies has led to increased attention from educators toward innovative teaching methods.[3] Lecture-based teaching has been the most common method of instruction for medical sciences students.[4] Evidence has shown that 80% of the information presented through lectures will be forgotten within 8 weeks.[5]

Multimedia-based teaching is considered a type of E-learning. It utilizes various media such as images, videos, audio, text, animations to respond to different learning styles of learners.[6] Simultaneously presenting visual and auditory information through multimedia materials engages different cognitive domains of learners.[7] Therefore, considering the advantages and high applicability of this innovative teaching method for medical sciences students, it can be utilized for teaching important subjects and materials.

Central venous pressure (CVP) monitoring is one of the most common and essential nursing care practices in intensive care units and cardiovascular operating rooms, which requires a high level of knowledge and skill in measuring and interpreting its results.[8] Alterations in CVP can be associated with various morbidity like acute kidney injury (AKI) and even mortality. While according to empirical evidence, despite the importance of this monitoring, there is no effective training in this area, and subsequently, the clinical performance of personnel in relation to the measurement of CVP is not optimal.[9]

Therefore, considering the significance of learning the concepts related to CVP monitoring and measurement, as well as, mentioned advantages of incorporating technology in teaching medical sciences students, this research aimed to compare the effectiveness of central venous pressure teaching through multimedia and lecture method on learning rate of anesthesia technologist students.

Materials and Methods

Study design

This study was a quasi-experimental two-group (intervention and control) design, conducted in 2022–2023 in the paramedical faculties of Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS) and Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS).

Selection and description of participants

A total of 41 fourth-semester anesthesia technologist students were included in the study through census method. The students were randomly assigned to two groups, lecture-based teaching (21 students, IUMS) and multimedia-based teaching (20 students, TUMS), using a simple randomization method.

Intervention

The method of implementation the study proceeded as follows: After obtaining informed consent from both groups, a pretest was conducted to assess the initial knowledge and awareness of all students regarding CVP monitoring. Following the pretest, the educational intervention was initiated. In the control group, a 3-hour workshop session on selected topics was delivered through PowerPoint presentations and lectures. The intervention group, on the other hand, was provided with a multimedia video file containing similar educational content, prepared using multimedia tools (including text, static and animated images, illustrations, animations, videos, and diagrams). To ensure consistency between the groups, all the educational sessions were conducted by a single educator (researcher). Finally, a posttest was administered to assess and compare the learning outcomes (obtained scores range: 0-20) of both groups, conducted two weeks after the intervention.

Data collection tool and evaluation technique

This study consisted of two phases of researcher-developed tests to assess the level of knowledge and initial information among students regarding the educational content (pre-test) and subsequent learning (post-test). The test comprised two sections: 1) Student demographic information, including gender and age; and 2) Questions designed to assess the knowledge of the students about CVP monitoring. The pretest and posttest questions were similar. The tests included 6 multiple-choice questions and 14 short-answer descriptive questions, and their reliability and validity were measured and confirmed. The face validity (simplicity, clarity, and impact score) and content validity (Content Validity Ratio [CVR] and Content Validity Index [CVI]) were examined by 10 experts. The importance score of all questions was reported as 90-100%. According to Lawshe’s table, the minimum acceptable value for CVR was 0.62,[10] and all questions were deemed acceptable (CVR >0.8). Questions with a CVI score lower than 0.79 were considered unacceptable indices and were excluded, but all questions had acceptable CVI scores (CVI >0.9). The reliability of the questions was assessed through an inter-rater agreement; this means that it was done by a separate group (n = 20) who had previously been taught in relation to educational content. The test was corrected by two raters. The interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to measure the agreement between the evaluators, which was reported as ICC = 0.999 indicating acceptable reliability and agreement between the evaluators [Figure 1].

Figure 1 Process of validity and reliability of tests

Descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, and paired t-tests with a significance level of 95% were employed using SPSS software version 26 to compare the two instructional methods.

Ethical consideration

The current study was conducted with the approval of the Research Ethics Committee of Iran University of Medical Sciences with ethical code IR.IUMS.REC.1401.882. Before the initiating of intervention, the implementation method and objectives of the project were explained to the students and informed consent was obtained from both groups.

Results

A total of 41 anesthesia technologist students from IUMS and TUMS participated in this research. The research units were divided into two groups: multimedia-based teaching group (20 participants) and lecture-based teaching group (21 participants). In terms of gender, there were 8 men (40%) and 12 women (60%) in the intervention group and 7 men (33.3%) and 14 women (66.6%) in the control group. The mean ages in the intervention and control groups were 21.60 and 21.61, respectively. Statistical tests did not reveal any significant differences in demographic variables between the intervention and control groups (P > 0.05) [Table 1].

Table 1 Demographic information

Group	Gender	Age	
Male	Female	Mean	Range	
Control Group	40%	60%	21.61	20-24	
Intervention Group	33.3%	66.6%	21.60	19-23	

The results of this study showed that there was no significant difference in the mean scores of the pretest between the two groups (P = 0.648). In both the multimedia-based and lecture-based teaching groups, the posttest scores showed a significant increase compared to the pretest scores (P < 0.001). However, the result of the independent t-test demonstrated that the post-test mean scores in the multimedia-based teaching group were significantly higher than those in the lecture-based teaching group (P = 0.004) [Table 2 and Figure 2].

Figure 2 This diagram shows the study procedure, which indicates that the multimedia-based teaching has significantly improved scores of learning in the intervention group

Table 2 Comparing the evaluated scores between two intervention and control groups before and after the intervention

	Group	Mean	Standard deviation	Test statistic	P-value	
Before intervention	Intervention	2.437	0.4299	0.460	0.648	
control	2.155	0.4386	
After intervention	Intervention	17.750	0.545	4.0207	0.001>	
control	14.869	0.467	
Difference before and after the intervention	Intervention	15.312	0.598	3.040	0.004	
control	12.714	0.609	

Discussion

The researcher’s literature review revealed that no comparative studies on the effectiveness of multimedia-based teaching versus lecture-based teaching in the context of CVP monitoring have been conducted in Iran or other countries. Therefore, the findings and results of this study were discussed and compared with other studies conducted in Iran and other countries that aimed to examine the effectiveness of multimedia-based teaching or compare it with traditional methods (lecture). The results of the present study showed that there was no significant difference in the mean scores of the pretest between the two groups. This finding is consistent with the results of Mehrabi et al.,[11] study. Furthermore, the results of the study by Jeffries et al.[12] indicated that there was no significant difference in the pre-test scores of both groups of nursing students (lecture- and multimedia-based teaching). The absence of difference in terms of the knowledge level in the instructional topic indicates the similarity and equivalence of the two groups in this study as well as the studies conducted by Mehrabi et al. and Jeffries et al.

Furthermore, the results of this study demonstrated that two weeks after the intervention, and a significant difference was observed in the mean scores of the post-test in both groups. However, the mean scores of students in the multimedia-based group were significantly higher than the lecture-based group. This is consistent with the findings of the study by Ali-Asghari et al.[13] that the mean scores of post-test knowledge and performance of nurses in the multimedia-based group were significantly higher than the traditional group.

The results of the study of Hsiao Y-T et al.[14] showed that the mean scores of the multimedia E-learning education group on the Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) were significantly higher than the traditional education group. Correspondingly, Jafari et al.[15] obtained similar results in the application of a communication model in nursing registration and reporting (SBAR) in selected military hospitals in Tehran. In the study by Abbasi et al.,[16] which aimed to compare the impact of traditional education and traditional education combined with an educational software, a significant increase was observed in the mean scores of the software education group after the intervention. All the results of the mentioned studies are the same as the results of the present research; on the other hand, the findings of some studies have differences with the results of this research. For instance, Ajorlou et al.[17] demonstrated in their study conducted in 2020 that both multimedia- and lecture-based education methods were effective and showed no significant difference between the two methods. Furthermore, Serena H. Chao et al.[18] in their study determined that there was no significant difference between the scores of the lecture and web-based group. These results may have been due to the design of the educational content. However, in the present study, after the intervention, the two educational methods were not homogeneous and showed a significant difference, thus not aligning with the results of these studies.

The limitation of this study was the relatively small number of research participants. Additionally, only a specific topic was taught. Therefore, to generalize the results of this study, it is recommended to compare this method with other educational approaches using larger sample sizes in different fields and subjects.

Conclusion

Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that both multimedia- and lecture-based education methods have contributed to the improvement of learning in anesthesia technologist students. However, the findings have indicated a greater impact of the multimedia method. Considering the superior effectiveness of multimedia method in students’ learning, this innovative approach can be utilized in medical sciences education programs.

Financial support and sponsorship

Iran University of Medical Sciences.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgment

The authors thank to all the professors and students who actively participated in this study.
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