Physician-rated utility of procedure videos for teaching procedures in the emergency department, overall and during emergency department crowding

Background — Real-time use of procedure videos as educational tools has not been studied. The researchers sought to determine whether viewing a video of a medical procedure prior to procedure performance in the emergency department improves the quality of teaching of procedures, and whether videos are particularly beneficial during periods of emergency department crowding.

Methods — In this single-centre, prospective, before and after study standardized data collection forms were completed by both trainees and supervising emergency physicians (EPs) at the end of each emergency department shift in the before (August 2008-March 2009) and after (August 2009-March 2010) phase. Online procedure videos were introduced on emergency department computers in the after phase. The primary outcome measure was EP rating of the quality of teaching provided (5-point Likert scale). The interaction between crowding and videos was also assessed, to determine whether videos provide a specific additional benefit during periods of emergency department crowding.

Results — There were 1159 procedures performed by 192 trainees. Median procedures performed per shift was 1.0 (IQR 0 – 2.0). Mean EP rating of teaching provided was significantly higher in the group that viewed videos, at 4.2 versus 3.7 (p < 0.001). In the adjusted analysis, EP ratings increased by 0.5 with a video (p < 0.001), while the odds of a score of 5.0 were 2.2 times greater if a video was viewed (p = 0.03). The interaction of crowding and procedure videos was not significant (the use of videos increased the average score by 0.24 in times of crowding compared to times of non-crowding, p = 0.19).

Conclusions — Use of procedural videos was associated with EP perception of improved quality of teaching provided around procedures. While EPs rated the quality of their teaching as improved overall, the effect of videos on teaching quality was the same in crowded settings as it was in non-crowded setting.