The Efficacy of Web-Based Multimedia Education of Normal Electrocardiogram in Junior and Senior Medical Students

Introduction: Wide spread availability of internet made the web based education as a real module for training under -graduate medical students. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of web based multimedia education in normal electrocardiography. Methods: In a semi-experimental study and based on the educational programs of medical students in their inpatient training courses, the normal electrocardiogram selected for web based multimedia education. The materials necessary to teach normal electrocardiogram were provided and multimedia was prepared for installing into computers. Two groups of medical students, 30 in each group in their cardiology service (senior and junior students) were selected. Mean while the intervention group studied the multimedia for an hour and for comparison group classroom - based education was done. At the end of study all students answered to atwenty question questionnaire about normal electrocardiogram. Results: The percentage of correct answers in intervention and comparison groups was 72% and 71% respectively. The prevalence of correct answer for junior students in intervention and comparison group was 68% and 67% respectively. The percentage for senior students was 73% and 75%. Conclusion: Like other studies, this study showed the multimedia training can be as effective as the routine classroom based learning. Web based multimedia education is as efficient as classroom based education and can be used as a suitable alternative to conventional methods of training.