Learning and Retention of Tracheal Intubation by Medical Students: Comparison of Standard Intubation Teaching Against Video-guided Intubation Teaching.

Introduction:

Competency in laryngoscopic tracheal intubation is a key skill to be developed during the training of medical students. Teaching this technical skill remains a challenge due to the fact that the laryngeal view is limited to one person at a time. Therefore, the feedback given during the procedure by the instructor to the student becomes limited, delayed and thus less efficient. This lack of efficiency could explain the poor success rates of tracheal intubations performed by medical students during the initial learning phase. Over the last ten years, new intubation devices incorporating optic fibers have been commercialized. These new technologies combined to video systems are now increasingly used for teaching purposes. Recent literature tends to show that this new approach could ease the learning process and increase the medical student's satisfaction towards the teaching of tracheal intubation.

Maintaining this knowledge and clinical skill can also be challenging especially for physicians who are not exposed to the intubation technique on a regular basis. Since tracheal intubation is a potentially lifesaving procedure, retention of this competency is crucial.

This study is designed to assess the impact of teaching tracheal intubation using video-guided feedback and the short and mid-term retention of the competency in a population of pregraduate medical students (clinical years 3 and 4).

Methods: