Multimedia to teach urology to medical students

Objectives. To test the hypothesis that an interactive multimedia-based com puter application may be used to teach urology to undergraduate medical stu dents. Methods. Third-year medical students rotating on their urology clerkship we re studied. Student knowledge was measured with a multiple choice test admi nistered in a pretest-post-test experimental design. The educational interv ention was a multimedia-based application that presented a clinical module on hematuria, using natural language-like entries. Student attitudes toward the multimedia application were assessed by a survey. Results. Twenty-three consecutive third-year medical students participated. Mean pretest and post-test scores +/- standard deviation were 35% +/- 11% versus 74% +/- 17%, respectively, P < 0.0001. Student questionnaire respons es indicated highly positive opinions that the multimedia-based module was easy to use, was fun, provided natural patient responses, had clear exercis es, provided immediate feedback, was educational, and had a nonthreatening format, and that the multiple choice questions were clear and fair. Conclusions. Multimedia-based education may be used to teach urology to und ergraduate medical students. (C) 1999, Elsevier Science Inc. All rights res erved.