The effectiveness of a Kampo e-learning course incorporated into the medical education curriculum: a possible solution to instructor shortages and time constraints

BackgroundThe shortage of instructors and time to teach traditional Japanese (Kampo) medicine (KM) limits students' understanding of its usefulness. We developed an e-learning course to solve this problem.MethodsThe Kampo e-learning course consists of 12 lessons on 10 essential Kampo formulas with related formulas, proper prescriptions, dosages, and adverse reactions, followed by review questions. After the course, and each student answers 10 additional clinical questions correctly, they are awarded a certificate of completion. This e-learning course was first taught in 2022. The students were informed before taking the course that points would be added to their final test scores with proof they completed the e-learning course. A total of 119 third-year Tokai University School of Medicine students participated. To evaluate the effectiveness of the e-learning course, they were each asked 5 clinical questions, randomly selected from 10 pooled questions, then 4 awareness questions on their interest in, the necessity for, and their understanding of KM, and their perceived usefulness of the course before and after taking it. Wilcoxon's signed-rank test was used to compare the changes.ResultsThe students' pre- and post-course test scores were compared. The evaluations of "Interested in KM" and "Necessity of KM for clinical routines" and "Understanding how to use KM" improved significantly; however, "Usefulness of e-learning for studying Kampo medicine" did not change. Clinical question scores improved significantly.ConclusionsAll the students completed the course resulting in significantly higher scores, proving this course's effectiveness. Developed not only for students but also for novices, this new Kampo e-learning course can be incorporated into regular curriculums and made an easily accessible tool in clinical settings.Trial registrationThis study is not a clinical trial but a kind of questionnaire survey, so that clinical trial number is not applicable.