The effect of difference between learning styles of hematologists attending the master's class on educational success

Objective: Learning style can be defined as individual differences in the processes of perceiving information, processing, and placing information in the mind. Creating educational models and learning environments suitable for individuals' learning style characteristics will ensure that desired learning outcomes are achieved. Kolb Learning Styles Scale is frequently used to determine learning styles. In our country and in the literature, there is no study evaluating the learning styles of physicians related to minör specializations. With this research, it was aimed to determine the learning styles of hematology specialists. Method: Kolb learning styles scale and questionnaire were applied to hematology specialists who participated in the "Masterclass" program organized by the Turkish Society of Hematology between 2016-2019, using the on-line survey monkey method. Results: 70 hematologists from five different masterclass programs participated in the study. Of the hematologists, 61.4% (n= 43) were female and 38.6% (n= 27) were male. The mean age of the participants is 40 ± 3.16 years [median=39.96 years (35-54)], and the mean duration of specialistic was 4.81±11.39 years [median= 5 (1-10 years)]. The learning style of hematologists is converging with 38 people (54.3%), assimilating with 16 people (22.9%), accommodating with 10 people (14.3%), and diverging with 6 people (8.6%) was defined. There was no significant difference in terms of gender, major specialization, titles, institutions, and learning styles of the participants (P > .05). The mean final exam scores of the hematologists were calculated as 63.96 ± 10.99 points [median= 62 (40-91 points)]. It was observed that gender, age, duration of specialization, major specialization, academic title, and learning style had no effect on the final exam score (P >.05). Conclusion: Hematology specialists predominantly had converging and assimilating learning styles. Considering the characteristics of these learning styles while creating hematology education programs and learning environments can contribute Key words: hematologist, kolb learning style, masterclass education programme, medical education