Oral presentation assessment and image reading behaviour on brain computed tomography reading in novice clinical learners: an eye-tracking study

Abstract Background To study whether oral presentation (OP) assessment could reflect the novice learners’ interpretation skills and reading behaviour on brain computed tomography (CT) reading. Methods Eighty fifth-year medical students were recruited, received a 2-hour interactive workshop on how to read brain CT, and were assigned to read two brain CT images before and after instruction. We evaluated their image reading behaviour in terms of overall OP post-test rating, the lesion identification, and competency in systematic image reading after instruction. Students’ reading behaviour in searching for the target lesions were recorded by the eye-tracking technique and were used to validate the accuracy of lesion reports. Statistical analyses, including lag sequential analysis (LSA), linear mixed models, and transition entropy (TE) were conducted to reveal temporal relations and spatial complexity of systematic image reading from the eye movement perspective. Results The overall OP ratings [pre-test vs. post-test: 0 vs. 1 in case 1, 0 vs. 1 in case 2, p