223 Development of Online Surgical Skills Education

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Online teaching rapidly emerged as a viable alternative to traditional face-to-face education. However, how to teach surgical skills in the online environment has not been established nor evaluated yet. Method An international one-day online surgical skills course consisting of lectures, pre-recorded virtual workshops, live demonstrations, and surgical skills teaching in breakout rooms was organised. Simultaneously, a traditional face-to-face surgical skills teaching was held and used as benchmark. Skills development assessed by trained demonstrators and self-reported competency scores were compared between the online and face-to-face event. Results In total, 553 participants from 20 different countries attended the online course, 64 were trained in breakout rooms with a 1:5 demonstrator to candidate ratio whilst the remaining candidates participated in didactic skills development sessions. In a separate face-to-face course 20 candidates were trained with traditional methods. Post course competency ratings by demonstrators in suturing, tendon repair and vascular anastomosis were not significantly different between students receiving online breakout room or face-to-face teaching (ps>0.05). The development of the same skills to “articulation” were not different between formats (ps>0.05). Post course self-rated competency scores improved for all technical skills (p<0.001). Small group sessions, both online and face-to-face, received higher satisfaction ratings compared to large group sessions in terms of clarity of instructions, answers to questions and demonstrator feedback. Conclusions Online teaching of surgical skills for early training years is an appropriate alternative to face-to-face teaching with the ability to define clear learning objectives, effectively teach surgical skills and achieve similar learning outcomes.