Learning should never stop: a survey of surgery residents and supervisors on online teaching during COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background: The pandemic has imposed a prodigious limitation on surgical training and has disrupted hospital procedures, hindering continuing medical training. We have established an online classroom platform at our institute to pursue medical education, which has been a new experience for our residents and consultants.Method: Across-sectional survey was conducted in the department of general surgery to know the perception of surgical consultants/registrars and junior residents regarding online classes and conventional teaching methods. Survey was conducted online, wherein questionnaires related to online teaching were circulated to resident surgeons and consultants/registrars.Results: A total of 91 surgery residents and 26 surgical supervisors consisting of faculty members and registrars completed the survey. Junior residents provided encouraging feedback and supported online education in the COVID-19 period; they felt that courses were well discussed, except clinical case presentation. A total of 84.6% of surgery residents and all the surgical supervisors felt that lack of a functional operating theatre impeded their training. Majority of surgical supervisors (66%) were moderately satisfied by the quality of online training, whereas junior residents (79%) were very to extremely satisfied and most (83%) approved online classes in future. Majority of junior residents (90%) found the virtual platform very easy to use, opposite to surgery supervisors.Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that online education is a feasible way to train surgical residents. However, since surgical specialties depend heavily on practical experience, it is very important to implement new ways of acquiring practical skills.