Tangible effects of the COVID-19 pandemic: A fall in dexterity amongst surgical trainees?

Abstract

Background The coronavirus pandemic has had an indisputable impact on surgical training. The qualitative effect on the perceived confidence and capability of trainees has been widely reported. In order to fully delineate the scope of the problem, quantitative data is also required. Methods This cross-sectional study collected compared data on the laparoscopic skills (pre- and post-pandemic) of first-year urology residents in the United Kingdom, who attended the annual Urology Simulation Boot Camp (USBC) in 2018 and 2019 (pre-pandemic), and 2021 (post-pandemic). Results Pre-pandemic group performance was significantly better in 2 out of 4 tasks (Task 3 p < 0.001) (Task 4 p = 0.003) during the practice session. During the assessment, pre-pandemic group performance was better (p = 0.017) for Task 2 and significantly faster (p = 003) for Task 4. Conclusions Our results provide evidence to support the notion that the coronavirus pandemic has had a tangible and detrimental effect on the technical skills of surgical trainees.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Postgraduate Training of Doctors in the United Kingdom: A Narrative Review

“…The impact of organized formal teaching being changed to a virtual platform was investigated by one study [24]. Surgery was the specialty that had the greatest number of studies ( 14) on the topic [4,5,[8][9][10][11][14][15][16][17][18][19]21,23]. Four were not associated with any particular specialty [2,3,22,24].…”

“…One study focused on those at the beginning of their training, looking at the impact of the introduction of an "interim" doctor role for medical students who were months away from completing medical school [ 22 ]. One study assessed if there had been any change in the technical skills of trainee surgeons, analyzing the results of simulated tasks from before and after the pandemic [ 23 ]. The impact of organized formal teaching being changed to a virtual platform was investigated by one study [ 24 ].…”

“…One study looked at quantifying the effect that reduced operating time had on technical surgical skills. The performance of urology trainees on a laparoscopic-simulated assessment was compared between those who completed the assessment before the pandemic and those who took it one year after the start of the pandemic, in 2021 [ 23 ]. This showed that the cohort of trainees who completed the assessment in 2021 scored lower results and performed worse than those who did so before the pandemic [ 23 ].…”

“…The performance of urology trainees on a laparoscopic-simulated assessment was compared between those who completed the assessment before the pandemic and those who took it one year after the start of the pandemic, in 2021 [ 23 ]. This showed that the cohort of trainees who completed the assessment in 2021 scored lower results and performed worse than those who did so before the pandemic [ 23 ]. However, this study only looked at a small cohort of trainees from a single specialty on a limited number of simulated exercises; therefore, it may not be representative of the wider cohort of trainees, and further work would need to be done to understand the wider impacts that COVID-19 had on the technical skills of trainee surgeons.…”

Surgical skills and COVID-19 pandemic: Impact and way forward

“… 1 , 2 The temporary cessation of skill courses and conferences by the organisations and professional bodies have impacted training of future surgical workforce. In this issue Ms Gowda et al 3 report, impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the technical skills of urology trainees attending national BOOTS camp. 4 The study finds a detrimental effect of pandemic on the technical skills of trainees, whereas a similar study by Etheridge et al from Singapore 5 showed an improvement in non-technical and team management skills.…”