Evaluation of an interactive virtual surgical rotation during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Abstract

Objective To evaluate medical student and attending surgeon experiences with a novel interactive virtual Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery (OHNS) medical student elective during the COVID-19 pandemic. Study Design A virtual OHNS elective was created, with three components: (1) interactive virtual operating room (OR) experience using live-stream video-conferencing, (2) telehealth clinic, (3) virtual didactics. Setting OHNS Department at the University of Pennsylvania (May 2020 to June 2020). Methods Six medical students from the University of Pennsylvania; five attending otolaryngologists. Two surveys were designed and distributed to participating medical students and attending surgeons. Surveys included 5-point Likert scale items, with 1 indicating “not at all” and 5 indicating “very much so”. Results Response rate was 100% for both surveys. Students on average rated the educational value of the telehealth experience as 4.2±1.2, and the virtual OR experience as 4.0±0.6. Most students ( n =5, 83%) indicated that they had enough exposure to faculty they met on this rotation to ask for a letter of recommendation (LOR) for residency if needed, while attending surgeons had an average response of 3.0±1.0 when asked how comfortable they would feel writing a LOR for a student they met through the rotation. A majority of students ( n =4, 67%) felt they connected enough with faculty during the rotation to ask for mentorship. Half the students ( n =5, 50%) indicated that the rotation allowed them to evaluate the department’s culture either “extremely well” or “somewhat well”. Conclusions Overall, participating students described this innovative virtual surgical rotation as an educationally and professionally valuable experience. With the continued suspension of visiting student rotations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this virtual model may have continued relevance to medical education.

Did More Otolaryngology Residency Applicants Match at Their Home Institutions in 2021? Investigating the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Individuals at the University of Pennsylvania conclude that the virtual elective is a good supplement to medical education but should not be considered a replacement of gaining in-person exposure to the operating room and clinic. 12…”

“…Individuals at the University of Pennsylvania conclude that the virtual elective is a good supplement to medical education but should not be considered a replacement of gaining in-person exposure to the operating room and clinic. 12 Another opportunity for students to network without doing an in-person away rotation during the 2020 ERAS cycle was via the STAR OTO program initiated by Vanderbilt University Medical Center. STAR OTO is a program that assigned a faculty member from a participating institution to a fourth-year medical student applying to Otolaryngology which allowed students to meet with their assigned faculty member virtually.…”

A Systematic Review of the Medical Student Feedback on Undergraduate Surgical Education During the Pandemic

“…This section will cover studies that discuss the use of technology in the live clinical environment. In Byrnes et al's study, a two-week virtual elective was offered to medical students at the University of Pennsylvania in which six participated [23]. The virtual elective is comprised of the following three major components:…”

“…On the five-point Likert scale, the average student rating of the telehealth sessions was 4.2, the virtual operating room was 4.0, and the overall virtual didactics was 4.5 [23].…”

Live-streaming otolaryngology surgical procedures for virtual medical student rotations

“…1 Many institutions have addressed this disruption with virtual rotations composed of lectures, skills workshops, live-streamed surgical procedures and so on. 2–4 Implementation of these virtual surgical rotations is challenging – it takes a great deal of co-ordination between faculty members, operating theatre staff and trainees, and requires technological innovations to provide meaningful, high-quality education without disrupting patient care in the operating theatre.…”