When creating content and materials for the Learning Scientists website, we try to include many different types of forms (NOT because of Learning Styles, but because of preferences, and diversity in the type of media an individual can consume!). Today’s blog post revisits a paper that I covered almost five years ago in a podcast episode (Episode 19 Bite-Size Research on Benefits of Retrieval with Medical Residents). It is a repeat, but repetition, especially after time has passed, helps with learning (though this is much longer than we would normally recommend!) and we know some prefer to read and/or use the blog archive.
With the constant advances in the medicine, medical training is continual and unabating. To start with, after spending typically four years earning a bachelor’s degree, medical professionals then typically spend four years in medical school, three to seven years in residency, and possibly a few years in fellowship. Then, relatively less formal education continues as the field advances and they must keep up with new research and procedures, and complete formal continued professional development. Thus, it is no surprise that there is great interest in improving the ways in which medical professionals learn so that learning can be more effective and efficient.
Fortunately, retrieval practice is a learning strategy that is both highly effective and efficient, and can be easily implemented (1). The strategy has been tested in the context of medical education many times; but in this example, Doug Larsen, and colleagues (2) show the importance of retrieval practice for medical residents.
