The Impact of COVID-19 on Surgical Education

Abstract

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Virtual Versus In-person Grand Rounds in Orthopaedics: A Framework for Implementation and Participant-reported Outcomes

“…It can be inferred that junior residents may not have felt that virtual grand rounds were as protected as in-person grand rounds, thereby diluting their educational benefit. In a similar survey study of virtual lectures for a general surgery residency program during the pandemic, Nagaraj et al 28 found that although most residents in their program noted an increased ability to attend virtual conferences and a majority reported to prefer continuation of virtual conferences, PGY-1 residents reported the changes negatively and PGY-2 residents felt neutral in comparison to positive responses from other postgraduate years. Our resident results for virtual grand rounds may be more positively skewed because of this exclusion.…”

In-person vs. virtual conferences: Lessons learned and how to take advantage of the best of both worlds

“…The virtual setting eliminates the need for planning out travel time or taking off from clinical responsibilities. 6 Attendees can participate between cases and responsibilities, as content is usually recorded for asynchronous viewing. Individuals can often watch at increased speed of presentations at their convenience.…”

“…This could be a potential hindrance to the career development of a young surgeon.For those who are trying to integrate clinical responsibilities with virtual conference attendance, their attention may be easily diverted away from truly participating in the discussions. 6 Concerted effort may be needed to block off clinical time or participation can result in encroachment of personal time, leading to issues with work life integration.…”

“Lessons from the pandemic: How can we enhance surgical training in undergraduate education?"

“…[ 13 , 14 ] Surgical inexperience has increased through the pandemic as access to clinical environments became severely limited and substituted for online teaching of varying quantity and quality. [ 15 ] [ 1 , 7 , 12 , 16 , 17 ] A logbook review comparing 2019 to 2020 found a “50% reduction in operations with trainees as the primary operating surgeon”. [ 18 ] It is likely the number of operations with medical students observing or assisting had an even more drastic reduction.…”