Comparison of distance education and in-person education in procedural sedation and analgesia: A randomized controlled trial

Despite the increasing demand for procedural sedation and analgesia training, the number of available instructors remains limited. The aim of this study is to compare distance education with in-person learning for knowledge acquisition and participant satisfaction in procedural sedation and analgesia education. We conducted a randomized controlled trial comparing distance education with in-person learning in Japan on three occasions. Twenty participants per course were randomly divided into five groups with stratification by year of graduation. The groups were randomized to either a distance education group or an in-person group. We conducted pre- and post-testing of procedural sedation and analgesia knowledge and surveyed participants’ perceptions by using a scale ranging from 0 (not enough) to 100 (enough). Our primary outcomes were knowledge acquisition and the quality of discussion. We included 48 healthcare professionals in the analysis. Forty-one participants (83.6%) were men and the median years of experience was 5 (interquartile range: 3–9). Both groups had similar knowledge acquisition with the pre-test and post-test score difference and reported similar scores on the quality of discussion with the exception of the clarity of audio quality (93 vs 100, p = 0.017). In a randomized trial of distance versus in-person learning for the sedation course, we did not observe statistically significant differences in knowledge acquisition and participant satisfaction between the two groups except for audio quality for the case discussion. Further efforts to improve quality for distance learning in procedural sedation and analgesia education are needed.