Outcomes of E learning in a clinical context

Background: E learning refers to the use of Internet technologies to deliver a broad array of solutions that enhance knowledge and performance. It is more often used by medical educators in basic science courses than in a clinical evaluation. Materials and methods: An observational study was carried out in the Department of General Surgery among undergraduate medical students to know the impact of e-learning in the acquisition of clinical skills required during evaluation of an inguinoscrotal swelling. A total of 60students were divided into two groups of 30 each. Group A students were trained by conducting bed side clinics on patients while students from Group B were trained using You tube videos. Results: At the end of these sessions, all the students were assessed by Objective Structured Clinical Examination on patients presenting with inguinoscrotal swelling with a check list. Out of 20 marks students from group A had a mean of 16.4 and the mean in the E learning group was 14.1 and the P value was .004 which was statistically significant. Conclusion: E learning by using videos cannot substitute traditional bed side teaching but it can impart basic clinical skills to a certain extent in a resource constrained situation.