The importance of combined use of spacing and testing effects for complex skills training: A quasi-experimental study

Renata Vicente Soares, Rafaela Batista dos Santos Pedrosa, John Sandars, Dario Cecilio-Fernandes

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (journal)peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Introduction: A major challenge is retention of complex clinical skills. Spacing training and testing have been demonstrated to increase knowledge and skill retention but the combination has not been previously investigated in complex clinical skills. The aim of our study was to compare the effectiveness of combined spacing and testing for Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advance Life Support (ALS) simulation training in one group (intervention group), with combined spacing and testing, and another group (control) that received simulation training in a single session simulation training without but no testing.
Methods: A quasi-experimental study.
Results: Thirteen nursing students were in the intervention group and 18 in the control group. After three months, there was no significant reduction in retention of BLS knowledge (p>.05) or BLS skills (p<.05) in the intervention group, but there was a significant reduction in both (p<.05) in the control group. We found no significant reduction in retention of ALS knowledge in the intervention group (p>.05), but there was a significant reduction in the control group (p<.05). There was no significant decay of ALS skills in both groups (p<.05).
Discussion: This is the first study to demonstrate that combined spacing and testing could be highly effective for complex skills simulation training to increase retention after three months.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-8
Number of pages8
JournalMedical Teacher
Early online date13 Nov 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 13 Nov 2024

Keywords

  • Clinical skills
  • instructional design
  • simulation
  • spacing effect
  • testing effect

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