Flipped education may help in the education of junior general surgery residents in their trauma rotation; a mixed-method study

Introduction: This study aims to assess the effectiveness of flipped learning in trauma rotation of first-year general surgery residents. This method entails the use of books, podcasts, and movies prior to the discussion of the topics in the classroom/conferences.Method: All (n=15) junior general surgery residents in Shiraz medical school. In the quantitative phase of the study, 3 test scores were compared. All tests were composed of 20 multiple choice clinical scenarios. A pretest was done on the registration date. After that, the media (videos and podcasts) and books were given to the residents. One month later, the residents had a case-based discussion on the primary trauma survey. An early post-test was done immediately after the case-based discussion, and a late post-test one month following commencement of the program. Also, a semi-structured phone interview was done with residents by an external audit. Results: The was a significant correlation between pretest (Mean=10.733,SD=2.25) and early post-test scores (Mean=12.8 ,SD=1.82) among residents (P=0.004) . Moreover, residents had a higher delayed post-test score (M=13.267, SD=1.53) in comparison to the pre-test (P=0.002). Surprisingly there was no significant difference between early and late post-test (P=0.404). The resident was also satisfied with the overall usefulness of the program for junior residents (overall score 4/5). We did not find any correlation between gender with the test scores. In the qualitative phase of the study, we noticed that our participants tend to use podcasts more than other materials. They believed that the videos and books help more to foster theoretical knowledge. The case-based discussion makes them more confident in dealing with the patients in their daily encountersConclusion: Finding in this study reveals that flipped learning can be a useful, highly beneficial platform and promotive for junior general surgery programs.