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INTRODUCTION: Venipuncture is a psychomotor skill required in many healthcare professions. E-learning could be used to overcome current barriers in face-to-face learning in healthcare education such as insufficient classroom space or qualified instructors. We sought to evaluate the effectiveness of an e-learning module on students' performance when used in addition to in-class training. METHODS: Overall, 224 health sciences students were approached to participate in this pilot study. Recruited students were divided into control and study groups. The control group received only in-class training, whereas the study group had access to the e-learning module in addition to in-class learning. Both groups were evaluated on their self-confidence using a Likert scale, academic competence using a multiple-choice questionnaire, and psychomotor competence from video skill recordings using an in-house rubric. Nonparametric, independent sample Mann-Whitney tests were performed to evaluate differences between groups. RESULTS: Overall, 114 students provided written informed consent; 84 students (control: n = 50, study: n = 34) participated in at least one component of the study. Significantly higher (p = 0.017) academic competence scores were observed in the study group. Significantly higher confidence levels were also observed postintervention for both the control (p = 0.0025) and study (p = 0.0011) groups; however, no significant differences were found between the study and control groups before (p = 0.441) or after (p = 0.883) intervention. Finally, no significant differences (p = 0.428) were observed for psychomotor skills between the study arms. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that there is potential for e-learning to increase the academic competence of students when used in conjunction with traditional learning; however, further research is needed to determine its efficacy on psychomotor skills.
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This study investigated the usefulness of the dose optimization strategy of increased tube voltage (kVp) and decreased tube current-exposure time product (mAs) (or high kVp-low mAs) by examining practitioners' assessments of perceived aesthetic and diagnostic quality of direct digital radiographs acquired using this strategy. Ninety-one practitioners (radiologists, radiology residents, radiographers, and radiography students) from eight clinical sites in Ontario examined three types of radiographs ("standard" image, +20 kVp image, and +30 kVp image) for anthropomorphic pelvis, chest, skull, and hand phantoms and rated (on a five-point scale) each image in regard to its perceived aesthetic quality, perceived diagnostic quality, and visualization of anatomic structures. Our primary findings are that for the pelvis, skull, and hand-although not the chest-images acquired using standard technical factors were rated significantly higher in diagnostic and aesthetic quality than those acquired using the high kVp-low mAs strategy. Despite this, both standard and dose-optimized images of the pelvis, skull, and hand were rated to be of acceptable diagnostic quality for clinical use. In conclusion, for the pelvis, skull, and hand, an increase of 20 kVp was an effective strategy to reduce dose while still acquiring images of diagnostic quality.