PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Alice Stewart
AU  - Garry Inglis
AU  - Luke Jardine
AU  - Pieter Koorts
AU  - Mark William Davies
TI  - A randomised controlled trial of blended learning to improve the newborn examination skills of medical students
AID  - 10.1136/archdischild-2011-301252
DP  - 2013 Mar 01
TA  - Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition
PG  - F141--F144
VI  - 98
IP  - 2
4099  - http://fn.bmj.com/content/98/2/F141.short
4100  - http://fn.bmj.com/content/98/2/F141.full
SO  - Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed2013 Mar 01; 98
AB  - Objective To evaluate the hypotheses that a blended learning approach would improve the newborn examination skills of medical students and yield a higher level of satisfaction with learning newborn examination. Method Undergraduate medical students at a tertiary teaching hospital were individually randomised to receive either a standard neonatology teaching programme (control group), or additional online access to the PENSKE Baby Check Learning Module (blended learning group). The primary outcome was performance of newborn examination on standardised assessment by blinded investigators. The secondary outcomes were performance of all ‘essential’ items of the examination, and participant satisfaction. Results The recruitment rate was 88% (71/81). The blended learning group achieved a significantly higher mean score than the control group (p=0.02) for newborn examination. There was no difference for performance of essential items, or satisfaction with learning newborn examination. The blended learning group rated the module highly for effective use of learning time and ability to meet specific learning needs. Conclusions A blended learning approach resulted in a higher level of performance of newborn examination on standardised assessment. This is consistent with published literature on blended learning and has implications for all neonatal clinicians including junior doctors, midwifes and nurse practitioners.