Interactive e-learning module on liver ischemia: enhancing medical education on antioxidant defense mechanisms (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Liver ischemia-reperfusion injury is one of the critical biochemical and clinical issues in hepatology; however, its education is weak because of the complexity of the oxidative stress and antioxidant defenses mechanism. It is often the case that the traditional lecture-based instruction strategies cannot guarantee long-term retention or translational of the knowledge to the clinic, creating a disconnect between knowledge theory and on-the-job training. Closing this gap is necessary since ischemia-related complications are one of the main morbidity and mortality factors after liver surgery and transplantation. OBJECTIVE The purpose of the study was to design and compare an interactive e-learning session with of improving medical-students understanding of liver ischemia and antioxidant defense, with lecture-based teaching. METHODS A pilot study has been carried out at Azerbaijan Medical University with sixty third year medical students randomly divided into a control group (lecture-based) and an experimental-group (interactive e-learning). Knowledge acquisition and retention were measured using pre-tests, immediate post-tests and follow-up tests after two and four weeks. Engagement and clinical relevance were determined by means of validated surveys. The statistical analysis was conducted with paired t -tests and ANOVA. RESULTS The e-learning group exhibited a +74.3 percent relative increase in knowledge scores (42.4 ± 3.3 to 78.8 ± 3.3, p < 0.01), and retention that was unchanged at four weeks (70.0 +/- 2.9). Conceptual comprehension was enhanced by 93.7 % (p < 0.01), and there was a win increase in student engagement of 64.6 % (p < 0.01). The application to clinical cases increased more than twice as much (+110.2%, p < 0.01). The control group only had minor improvements, with retention of 49.5 + 4.9 after Four weeks. Biological data in the form of complementary biochemical-analyses in ischemia models supported significant time related damage in protein metabolism especially in the situation of prolonged ischemia. CONCLUSIONS ctive module was significantly better than lecture-based in promoting knowledge acquisition, retention, and utilization in clinical practice. The results indicate the potential of the module as a scalable and effective pedagogical innovation in the medical learning environment and toward a more robust clinical preparation. CLINICALTRIAL no registration number