Effectiveness of a Theatre-Infused Script-to-Skills Teaching Model in Undergraduate Otorhinolaryngology Education: A Randomized Two-Period Crossover Trial.
Baddam Rachna Reddy, Gudise Abhinav Kiran, Packrisamy Mekala
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In 30 seconds
This randomized, controlled, two-period, two-sequence crossover trial compared a theatre-infused script-to-skills model with conventional lectures in 60 final-year medical students learning chronic suppurative otitis media and deviated nasal septum. The interactive model combined role-play, collaborative problem-solving, reinforcement tasks, and feedback. Students had higher immediate knowledge gains and significantly higher two-week retention scores after the intervention; mixed-effects analysis identified the model as an independent predictor of both outcomes. Communication-related ratings and learner satisfaction also favored the interactive approach. The abstract reports no numerical effect sizes for these differences.
Key findings
- Immediate post-test gains were higher with the theatre-infused model for both chronic suppurative otitis media and deviated nasal septum.
- Two-week retention scores were significantly higher after the theatre-infused model than after didactic lectures.
- Communication, empathy, clinical reasoning, and professionalism ratings were consistently high in the intervention arm.
- Student satisfaction clearly favored the interactive teaching strategy.
Why it matters
Undergraduate otorhinolaryngology teaching may be compressed, making both knowledge retention and clinically relevant communication skills important educational outcomes. This trial suggests that integrating role-play and collaborative learning with structured reinforcement can improve short-term learning outcomes and learner-rated experience compared with lectures. The findings support further consideration of interactive approaches in clinical education, while the abstract does not quantify the size of the benefits.
What to keep in mind
The abstract provides no numerical effect sizes for the reported differences, and retention was assessed only at two weeks.