ToSkORL-2: Self-assessment and objective skills of medical students in clinical ENT examination after online course during COVID pandemic

Introduction In medical school, capacity building is a central goal. During the COVID pandemic, in-classroom teaching was temporarily suspended and online teaching was used even to teach psychomotor ability skills such as specific examination skills, e.g. of the head and neck. Our study aimed to measure performance and capacity of self-evaluation in students who had only received online teaching.

Methods After completing a new extensive online ENT examination course, we conducted a standardized clinical skills exam for nine different ENT examination items with 30 students. Using Likert-scales, self-evaluation was measured based on questionnaires right before the clinical skills exam and objective evaluation during the exam was assessed following a standardized regime. Self-evaluation and objective evaluation were correlated. We compared this cohort to a cohort that had completed a traditional in-classroom ENT skills course.

Results Compared to in-classroom teaching, students of the online cohort self-assessed their examination skills similar whereas objective evaluation showed slightly decreased skill levels. In easier psychomotor examination techniques, students overestimated their skills more often. In more difficult examination techniques such as endoscopy, both over- and underestimation were more often observed. The highest level of misjudgment was found in techniques with intermediate difficulty.

Conclusion Online courses can add additional value to in-classroom teaching in a timely and reasonable way and can help to gain ENT examination skills. Nevertheless, online-only teaching cannot replace in-classroom teaching to acquire the sophisticated psychomotor skills needed for a thorough clinical ENT examination.

Virtuelle Hochschule Bayern

Publication History

Article published online:
24 May 2022