Students can learn medicine with computers

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Abstract
Objective To assess the effectiveness of a computer‐aided learning program on dementia. Design Fourth year medical students were arbitrarily assigned to groups that used a computer‐aided learning program (65) or had a tutorial covering similar material (73). These sessions were in addition to a base curriculum in a two‐week course in geriatric medicine. Main outcome measures The effectiveness of the teaching sessions was judged by the performance on a multiple choice questionnaire about dementia, given to the students on two occasions, one at the beginning and one at the end of the two‐week course. Results Both groups of students scored significantly better on the second test (computer group, 66% [95% confidence interval, 64–69] to 81% [79–83] and tutorial group, 66% [63–67] to 74% [73–77]). The difference between the groups at the start of the course was not significant (F1,136 = 0.61, P = 0.61); however, there was a significant difference between the groups at the end of the course (F1,136 = 21.83, P <0.001). Conclusion Both groups improved their knowledge of dementia during the two‐week course. Students who used the computer‐aided learning programs showed a greater improvement in score. Computer learning programs are effective learning tools and are a useful addition to traditional teaching methods. Further study is required to assess the effects of computer‐aided learning programs in long‐term studies of dementia knowledge.