The effectiveness of grand rounds lectures in a community-based teaching hospital.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of weekly didactic grand rounds presentations.

DESIGN: From 26 consecutive grand rounds presentations from July 2007 to March 2008, 2 questions were created from each lecture. A 52-question multiple choice test was administered 2 weeks after the completion of the last presentation.

SETTING: A tertiary care institution with an accredited surgical residency program.

PARTICIPANTS: Attending surgeons, residents, midlevel providers, and medical students participated in the multiple choice test.

RESULTS: A total of 58 participants completed the test. The mean score was 41.5% (range, 12-69%). The senior residents had the highest mean score on the test with 51.0% (p = 0.021). With regard to global versus specific questions, there was no significant difference between the mean percentage of correct answers (41.7% vs 41.3%, respectively, p = 0.79). The great majority (76.5%) of participants indicated that they preferred to have grand rounds given by "distinguished guest speakers." The mean score on presentations by guest speakers, however, was slightly lower than for other presenters (40.7% vs 42.2%, p= 0.37). Questions from presentations by resident physicians were answered correctly significantly more often than presentations by attending surgeons (45.9% vs 39.6%, p = 0.001). Trauma and burn are considered areas of focus for this surgical residency. There was no significant difference between mean score on topics related to trauma and burn compared with other topics (40.6% vs 41.8%, p = 0.50). Attendance had very little correlation with scores on the test (correlation coefficient, 0.004).

CONCLUSIONS: Approximately 40% of material presented at grand rounds was retained within a 9 month period. Although this number seems low, this information was recalled without preparation. Despite the preference for distinguished guest speakers, there was no significant additional gain in knowledge from their expertise. Presentations from senior residents were the most successful in conveying information.