An analytic study of knowledge retention at different time intervals among junior residents following recapitulation of presented slides silently at the end of teaching session

Background & Objective: Facilitators commonly ponder how to effectively conclude a learning session, and there are no clear answers. This novel study analyzes the impact of silent recapitulation of presented slides at session end on immediate and short-term knowledge retention among Junior Residents (JR) tested at different time intervals. Materials & Methods: This single-center, prospective, non-randomized interventional study was conducted at Midnapore Medical College in India. Fifteen postgraduate JR of Anaesthesiology attended 14 knowledge-based teaching sessions, while 22 JR participated in the subsequent 14 sessions. Teaching sessions were allocated in a sequential, non-randomized manner, with 50% of sessions ending with a silent recapitulation of PowerPoint slides following Take-Home Messages (THM) (Study group, n = 14 sessions), while the other 50% of sessions ended with a discussion of THM only (Control group, n = 14 sessions). All participating JRs were assessed with five different Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) each on the first and seventh day after sessions and again at Internal Assessment (IA) after 2 months. Data analysis was performed using paired t-tests for within-group comparisons, unpaired two-tailed t-tests, and ANOVA tests for between-group comparisons. Results: The MCQ scores on day 1 were significantly higher in the study group compared to the control group (82.0 vs. 65.2, p < 0.00). However, mean MCQ scores on day 7 in both groups were significantly different from day 1 MCQ scores but similar to each other (71.2 and 73.5, p = 0.29). The scores at IA improved from day 7 MCQ scores in both the study group (71.2 vs. 82.0, p < 0.05) and the control group (73.5 vs. 83.2, p < 0.05). Conclusion: For JRs, there is significant short-term retention of knowledge after a silent recapitulation of slides at the end of a session compared to the control group.