Comparing the Effects of Physical Practice and Mental Imagery Rehearsal on Learning Basic Venipuncture by Medical Students

Abstract

Effective and efficient techniques to teach basic clinical skills are much needed in medical education. Many of these skills are psychomotor, and mental imagery rehearsal has been effective in learning psychomotor skills in many fields. We conducted a fully randomized experiment to determine if mental imagery rehearsal was effective compared with physical practice in learning venipuncture (blood drawing) skills by medical students. All participants first received a lecture-demonstration on venipuncture and 30 minutes of guided physical practice on artificial plastic arms. One treatment group received an additional 30 minutes of such practice. Another treatment group received a 30-minute session of guided imagery. A control group received no additional training. Both treatment groups demonstrated improved performance on a live venipuncture compared to the control group and did not significantly differ from each other. Hence, imagery rehearsal offers a very cost-effective method of learning this basic clinical skill.

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