Teaching surgical residents to evaluate scholarly articles: a constructivist approach

BackgroundThe ability to critically appraise scholarly journals is an essential skill for surgical residents in their journey to being lifelong learners. Methods to teach evaluation of scholarly articles are scant in the educational literature.MethodsResidents completed a pre-test on evaluation of surgical literature. Two lectures on methodology and statistics followed. A board-certified surgeon and residents evaluated 7 articles using a scoring form. A post-test followed. Four additional sessions on evaluating surgical articles were held without the rating form. Residents completed a second post-test.ResultsResidents showed improved knowledge and skills on evaluating surgical literature on the first and second post-tests when compared with the pretest ( P < 0.0005 for both tests).ConclusionsSurgical residents can be taught to evaluate literature using constructivist Educational theory. There was a significant improvement in knowledge and the skills of literature evaluation, which persisted after the educational aid was removed.