DEATH CERTIFICATION - PRODUCTION AND EVALUATION OF A TRAINING VIDEO

The purpose of this study was to produce an effective training video o n death certification suitable for use by medical students and postgra duates. A 15-minute video was commissioned from a video production uni t and two authors (PA and CP) provided advice and support in the proce ss of script writing and production. An evaluation by means of a rando mized controlled trial took place among 185 first year medical student s at the University of Leicester. The video was shown as an addition t o the usual lecture on death certification. Performance in a test of k nowledge, skill and motivation was recorded in each of the two groups. Students assigned to see the video scored slightly better overall in a test of knowledge and skill (difference in medians = 3, in a test ma rked out of 68, P = 0.046). The intervention group also gave a signifi cantly higher priority to avoiding distress caused to relatives as a r eason for certifying death accurately (60% vs. 35%, difference in prop ortions = 24%, P = 0.002). There was no evidence that enjoyment or vie ws about the nature or content of the video had an impact on performan ce in the test. It is concluded that adding the video to the usual lec ture had a limited effect on the overall knowledge and skills of under graduate students but was highly effective in conveying the message th at inaccurate death certification can cause distress to relatives. The randomized controlled trial is a practical and simple means of evalua ting teaching methods for medical undergraduates.