ORL-knowledge in ORL-doctors: An analysis of the ORL-App

Background The ORL-App, a smartphone app for further education and training for ORL doctors and those interested in ORL, complements existing offers in medical education and training. The principle of game-based e-learning can open up new perspectives in times of digitalisation and pandemic. The heart of the app is a large ORL quiz, in which app users compete against each other. This paper analyses the performance of app users in the quiz module, taking into account the questions’ categories and the users’ level of education.

Material and Methods Retrospectively, an evaluation of the quiz questions was carried out for the first 24 months after the introduction of the app. There were 3,593 different questions to choose from in 16 different categories. Based on the level of training, a distinction was made between doctors in further training, specialists, senior physicians, chief physicians and professors in the field of ORL. In addition, data on students and non-medical staff were available.

Results There was a significant difference in the level of knowledge of the users considering the level of training. The group of doctors in further training (n = 1,013) represented the largest group, with an average of 244 questions per user and 65.1% of the questions answered correctly. They thus achieved a significantly better answer rate than the group of specialists (n = 566), who were able to answer 61.0 % of the questions correctly.

Conclusion The game-based form of training through the ORL-Quiz-App seems to be particularly attractive for doctors in further training. In addition, this user group achieved better answer rates than the specialists.

Publication History

Article published online:
12 May 2023