ABSTRACT
Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) has become a modern tool for self-instruction in subjects that were once thought to be erudite. We have used CAI in teaching several topics of pharmacology to third year medical students since 1995. In 1996, we developed CAI in antiarrhythmic drugs by using the software ToolBook, version 3.0, comprising 29 electronic pages. Most pages contain English text, drawn images, animation and sound effects. To minimize the size of CAI, no scanned images or video clips were used. Some preliminary explanations were given before the class was held to enable the students to use CAI as provided. Subjective satisfaction after using CAI was evaluated from questionnaire answered immediately after the examination. An objective evaluation was made from the number of correct answers to eight antiarrhythmic questions in the third sectional examination (which contained 85 questions). From the questionnaire, the students are divided into two groups. The first group comprised 83 questions who had never used CAI; the second group contained 123 students who had used it at least once. The mean number of correct answers+SD to the antiarrhythmic questions in the first and the second groups were 3.60+1.51 and 4.14+1.73, respectively, which shows a atatistically significant difference (P<0.01) despite the similarity of the original scores in the first two exams (70.27+8.85 percent and 70.57+9.81 percent, respectively. CAI therefore helps to increase the number of correct answers to antiarrhythmic questions, even though the increase is small. The difference may have resulted from including two students who answered all the questions wrong and another student who answered all the questions correctly in the second group as well as English being the only language used in CAI.