Enhancing Medical Education with Chatbots

A Study on Colorectal Cancer Training

Published: BMC Med Educ. December 20, 2024

Introduction

Standardized Patients (SP) and Case-Based Learning (CBL) are widely used in medical education. However, traditional SP methods might not effectively help students grasp basic medical knowledge or develop clinical thinking. We need to innovate these methods to enhance learning.

Objective

This study investigates how effective a chatbot that uses SP and CBL (CSP-CBL) is for teaching about colorectal cancer.

Methods

We studied 61 medical students who had learned about colorectal cancer. They were randomly assigned to two groups: one using CSP-CBL and the other using traditional SP (TSP-CBL). We assessed their basic knowledge and clinical thinking skills before and after the intervention.

Results

Most participants were female (62.3%) and performed well academically (67.2% in the top 60% of grades). There were no significant differences in demographics or pre-test scores. However, the CSP-CBL group performed better in post-tests:

Significant improvement in basic knowledge (SMD = -0.629, P < 0.05).
Clinical thinking scores increased from 79.6 to 86.2 (SMD = -0.398, P < 0.05).
CSP-CBL group reported lower academic stress (SMD = -0.941, P < 0.01).
Higher future knowledge value ratings (SMD = 0.603, P < 0.05).
More satisfaction in meeting learning needs (SMD = 0.532, P < 0.05).

Conclusion

The CSP-CBL teaching method significantly enhances the knowledge and clinical thinking of medical students learning about colorectal cancer while reducing their learning burden.

Trial Registration

ChiCTR2300072017 (registered on 05/31/2023).

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