Objectives: Airway endoscopy is a difficult skill to master. A unique practicum was designed to help otolaryngology residents develop endoscopy skills. The learning modalities included lectures, an animal laboratory, high-fidelity manikins, virtual bronchoscopy simulation, and standardized patients. This study compares the relative subjective value of these learning modalities for skill development and realism.
Methods: Participants used a Likert scale (1=disagree to 5=agree) and open responses to anonymously rate the efficacy of 5 learning modalities for teaching airway management, endoscopy skills, and clinical leadership and for providing a realistic experience.
Results: The results in 2007 were uniformly positive, with mean scores for every category and modality greater than 4 for developing cognitive, psychomotor, and affective skills; managing normal and abnormal conditions; preventing and managing complications; improving endoscopy skills; understanding team process; and experiencing overall and manual "feel" realism. In 2008, the participants were encouraged to more critically evaluate the course. The ratings demonstrated statistically significant differences between the mean scores for 4 of the 9 evaluation categories in 2007 and all 9 categories in 2008.
Conclusions: Specific learning modalities (e.g., lecture, animal laboratory, high-fidelity manikin, virtual bronchoscopy, standardized patient) were perceived to have different values for teaching airway management, developing endoscopy skills, teaching clinical leadership, and providing a realistic experience. We propose that these learning modalities can be used in a complementary manner.