Abstract
IntroductionOnline teaching has rapidly emerged as a viable alternative to traditional face-to-face education. How to teach surgical skills in the online environment, however, has not yet been fully established nor evaluated.MethodsAn international 1-day online surgical skills course consisting of lectures, pre-recorded virtual workshops, live demonstrations and along with surgical skills teaching in breakout rooms was organised. Based on existing learning theories, new methods were developed to deliver skills teaching online. Simultaneously, traditional in-person surgical skills teaching was also conducted and used as a benchmark. Skills development was assessed by trained demonstrators and self-reported competency scores were compared between the online and face-to-face event.Results553 delegates from 20 different countries attended the online course. Of these, 64 were trained in breakout rooms with a 1:5 demonstrator-to-delegate ratio whilst the remaining 489 delegates participated in didactic skills development sessions. In a separate face-to-face course, 20 delegates were trained with traditional methods. Demonstrators rated the competency of delegates for suturing, tendon repair and vascular anastomosis. There was no significant difference in the competency ratings of delegates receiving online teaching or face-to-face teaching (p = 0.253, p = 0.084, p = 1.00, respectively). The development of the same skills to “articulation” were not different between formats (p = 0.841, p = 0.792, p = 1.00, respectively). 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. Overall feedback on teaching quality, however, was equivalent across both groups.DiscussionOnline teaching of surgical skills for early training years is an appropriate alternative to face-to-face teaching.
Highlights
Online teaching has rapidly emerged as a viable alternative to traditional face-to-face education
Learning outcomes of this course were compared to traditional face-to-face small group surgical skills teaching delivered simultaneously
A total of 24 delegates registered for face-to-face teaching and 20 of them attended (86%)
Summary
Online teaching has rapidly emerged as a viable alternative to traditional face-to-face education. Skills development was assessed by trained demonstrators and self-reported competency scores were compared between the online and face-to-face event. 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. Face-to-face surgical courses have traditionally aimed to develop core skills and teach basic techniques used in surgical practice to enable delegates to safely perform these in clinical practice. These courses, have been on hold resulting in long waiting lists and a large number of trainees receiving limited practical skills teaching. Online surgical training programmes have already begun [5] and validation of this novel method of surgical skills teaching is necessary
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