Can narration and guidance in video-enhanced learning improve performance on E-BLUS exercises?

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to compare trainees’ laparoscopic performance concerning the peg-transfer (PT) and needle-guidance (NG) exercises after watching the original European Basic Laparoscopic Urologic Skills (E-BLUS) video or after watching a video-mentored tutorial (VMT) with ‘tips and tricks’, narration and didactic illustrations. MATERIAL AND METHODS: An experimental, unblinded, parallel, 2-intervention, 2-period randomized trial with an allocation ratio of 1:1 was conducted. Forty-two participants were randomized into 2 groups. Prior to task initiation, Group 1 watched the VMT in both trials and Group 2 watched, firstly, the original E-BLUS examination video and, in the second trial, the VMT. Each participant performed 2 trials for each exercise. Outcome measures were task time and total number of errors. RESULTS: In the first period, participants who visualized the PT and NG VMT had fewer errors than participants who visualized the E-BLUS video (p = 0.001 and p = 0.014, respectively). In the second period, after watching the VMT, a decrease in the total number of errors in PT and NG exercises was observed in the participants who previously watched the E-BLUS video (p = 0.001 and p = 0.002, respectively). In the second period, a decrease in median task time was observed for Group 1 and 2 after watching the PT VMT (p ≤0.001 and p = 0.003, respectively) and NG VMT (p = 0.005 and p = 0.01, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The use of VMT can lead to a smaller number of errors and, if coupled with deliberate practice, could lead to a shorter task time in exercise performance among participants with no previous laparoscopic experience.