Objective: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Milestone Project has created the need for specialty focused, developmentally tiered and competency based evidence-based medicine (EBM) instruction. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Health Sciences Library is extending current staff capacity for face-to-face sessions by creating online module templates that can be adapted to meet the specific needs of more residency programs. Method: Testing the effectiveness, quality and usability of the draft templates is part of the project development plan. The specialty focused EBM face-to-face instruction session of the Clinical Based Year (CBY) anesthesiology residents' Academic Medicine Rotation is the model for the online template. In order to be able to compare the validity of the online modules in comparison with face-to-face sessions, baseline data was gathered from a pre-test/post-test completed by the ten anesthesiology resident participants in the 2015 program. The pre-test/post-test included five knowledge questions and two self-perception questions. After the face-to-face session, the anesthesiology residents were asked to review the online module version of the instruction and answer a brief survey about ease of use and preferred learning mode. Results: Seven of ten residents increased their number of correct answers on the post-test. There were no perfect scores on the pre-test and five perfect scores on the post-test. Three of ten residents indicated a higher self-perceived comfort level for completing a PubMed EBM search. Two of ten residents had an increase level of agreement that their PubMed searching skills are sufficient. Seven of ten residents evaluated the online module and rated it as clearly organized and easy to understand and use. Four would prefer to learn and practice the EBM content in a group session with an instructor, two did not have a preference and one strongly preferred to learn online. Conclusion: Pre-test/post-test data confirmed face-to-face instruction had a positive impact on EBM knowledge and moderately improved self-perceived comfort with EBM searching. This baseline data will be used to compare with residents who only use the online format in the future. Positive feedback on ease of using the online module confirms that the template is functional. A more formal objective evaluation is planned. The variety of learning preferences within this small group indicates that face-to-face instruction is preferred by some, but that online modules will better meet the needs of others and appear to be an adequate way to expand our overall reach
