What is the best method to study medical and surgical content for understanding and long-term retention?

From the Guidelines

The best method to study medical and surgical content for understanding and long-term retention is through a combination of active recall, spaced repetition, and multiple exposures to content, as suggested by the American College of Chest Physicians evidence-based educational guidelines 1.

Key Components of Effective Studying

• Active recall: immediately test yourself on what you've learned without looking at your notes
• Spaced repetition: review materials at increasing intervals to combat forgetting
• Multiple exposures: use multiple media, techniques, and exposures to content to meet instructional objectives
• Applied knowledge: focus on applying knowledge to clinical scenarios or cases, rather than just memorizing facts
• Teaching concepts to others: explain material to others, even imaginary students, to force deeper processing

Importance of Applied Knowledge

Applied knowledge is essential for deeper learning and expert performance, as it requires the ability to think through problems, make decisions, and explain findings and mechanisms 1.

Role of Multiple Exposures

Multiple exposures to content, including multiple media and instructional techniques, can improve physician knowledge and performance, and ultimately patient outcomes 1.

Recommendations for CME Activities

CME activities should be designed to include multiple educational media and techniques, and where possible, multiple exposures, to improve physician knowledge and performance 1.

Conclusion is not allowed, so the response is ended here.

From the Research

Effective Learning Techniques for Medical and Surgical Content

• Distributed practice and practice testing are considered effective learning techniques for long-term retention, as concluded by reviews and meta-analysis 2
• Metacognition is found to be the most effective technique, but its usage is limited among medical students, with up to 92% of students being unaware of it 2
• Rereading, highlighting, and summarisation are commonly used techniques, but they have detrimental effects on academic outcomes 2
• No single learning technique seems to improve results in below-average students, highlighting the need for more studies to confirm these findings 2

Multimedia Design Principles for Improved Retention

• Applying multimedia design principles to medical lectures can significantly improve long-term transfer and retention, as evidenced by a study that revised a medical lecture based on these principles 3
• The use of multimedia design principles can lead to improved understanding and retention of medical content, with significant effects on measures of learner understanding 3

Optimising Retention of Anatomy

• Intertwining clinical and anatomical information, assessing in-depth processing, and 'triaging' the curriculum to include only clinically engaged anatomy can foster long-term retention of anatomy 4
• Incorporating surface and radiological anatomy in a vertically integrated curriculum, reciprocal peer teaching, and employing clinically qualified instructors can also be helpful techniques for improving retention of anatomy 4

Limitations of Current Evidence

• There is limited real-settings evidence regarding what works best for long-term retention in medical students, highlighting the need for more studies to confirm current findings 2
• The effectiveness of certain learning techniques, such as beta-blockers for anxiety disorders, is still unclear due to limited evidence and high risk of bias in existing studies 5, 6