Virtual Lectures Research Articles

Pedagogical impact during the pandemic of a virtual classroom with lightboard

Abstract: This paper analyzes the influence of a virtual classroom with a lightboard on the pedagogical impact generated in students of two synchronous engineering courses taught during the Covid 19 pandemic. A technology acceptance model analyzed the influence of the virtual classroom with lightboard, the central core of analysis being the students' learning satisfaction. The results show that the ease of receiving the lectures for students, the teacher's chosen methodology, and the support material positively influence the student's learning process. The lightboard supports all these influence factors, being a helpful tool for teachers. Also, in virtual lectures, it is relevant that the student has a good Internet connection, stable power supply, and other elements that allow him/her to participate in all synchronous lectures and develop asynchronous activities.

Introducing dental students to complete denture treatment in times of COVID-19: Students' responses.

The COVID-19 pandemic required changes in the complete denture courses to comply with lock-in and social distancing requirements. The objectives were to assess (a) dental students' interest in a required complete denture course and the prosthodontics specialty, (b) how much time students spent on studying background, lab, and clinical content, and (c) how difficult and helpful course components were. Additionally, open-ended responses concerning what the students liked and what they wanted to have changed were analyzed as well. After this "complete denture" course, 81 of 109 students responded to a web-based survey with questions about course content and design. This hybrid course consisted of weekly asynchronous virtual lectures, in-person simulated laboratory (sim lab) exercises, and synchronous virtual workshops. Exactly 53.7% were much/very much interested in this course, with nobody considering prosthodontics as their specialty. The students studied on average of 79.61 minutes for 1hour (of background-related lecture, 69.92 minutes for a lab-based lecture, and 77.00 minutes for a clinical-content lecture (p<0.001). They evaluated clinical content as most difficult, lab content as less difficult, and background material as least difficult (3-point scale with 1= not at all difficult: means= 1.90/1.85/1.80; p<0.001). They rated background lectures as least helpful, clinical material as more helpful, and lab content as most helpful (5-point scale with 1= most helpful: means= 2.33/2.67/2.96; p<0.001). Open-ended answers showed exceptionally positive responses for content and pedagogy of sim lab and clinical content. Gaining a better understanding of students' responses to hybrid "complete denture" courses is critical for optimally teaching this material in times of COVID-19.

Short instructional videos for the TikTok generation

This quasi-experimental study examines the effect of short instruction videos on students’ business statistics learning. Two hundred and thirty-one Dutch students attended 6-week online seminars on Business Statistics. One hundred and nineteen students were in an experimental group, and 112 in a control group. Students in the experimental group watched short instructional videos and studied online quizzes at their own pace. In the control group, students followed teachers’ instructions throughout the seminars. It was found students watching short videos significantly outperformed those following teachers’ virtual instruction. Short videos were especially useful for those who were good at math. The research sheds light on the design of hybrid learning, particularly for business statistics education at the university level. HIGHLIGHTS A quasi-experimental research to examine the effects of short instructional videos on students’ statistics learning performance vs. the virtual lectures with teachers. Evidence of the benefits of short videos in statistics education for students who are good at math. Practical experiences sharing for designers of instructional videos. Recommendations for creating short instructional videos in higher education.

Legal Incentives and Constraints on Innovation: Keeping the Balance

The COVID-19 pandemic forced civil society and business to face a new reality where much greater reliance needed to be placed on networked devices and internet distributed communications, including the provision of services ranging from medical advice to food, entertainment and even the facility to interact with family. The ability to meet in-person with family, friends, colleagues, business associates or customers was severely restricted leaving internationalisation as a utopian dream as borders were closed, students were denied access to a physical classrooms and businesses had to rapidly “pivot” or fail. These alternatives to real life have seemed less appealing to many, with every aspect of life “going online”, whether virtual lectures, exams, meetings, mediations, court appearances, job interviews, shopping for a piece of cheese or starting a new trade relationship.&#x0D; Much innovation over the last two years has been around deploying online business models. There has also been a wider use of artificial intelligence to support “efficient” operations partly stimulated by the falling staffing levels due to the pandemic directly through sickness or forced isolations, or indirectly by a growing sense of the futility of working for a business, known as the Great Resignation (“Over the 12 months ending in January 2022, hires totalled 76.4 million and separations totalled 70.0 million…” indicating a huge refocusing on jobs in the USA) &#x0D; This paper looks at the challenge for legal systems to pivot around the growing trends in deployments of online innovation. Some businesses are now widely deploying software-based analysis systems, such as Airbnb, which is using them to “verify the identity and trustworthiness of a user of an online system” and flag potential guests who may be problematic. Although Airbnb is a multibillion-dollar business, it is a good example of how through using publicly available data, user supplied information, and smart software (artificial intelligence) a business can make predictions on the behaviour of its potential customers. Other AI resources have been creating new gaming scenarios, reporting on the news, and even creating new artworks and music. These kinds of use of AI in the marketplace have challenged the legal frameworks that support individual privacy and also ideas around human creativity.

Saudi EFL Learners’ Attitudes with Regard to Using Online and Virtual Solutions for Learning English Accents during the Covid-19 Pandemic

This study investigated Saudi EFL learners’ attitudes with regard to using virtual and online solutions for learning English accents. In addition, it investigated the participants’ ability to identify British and American accents after attending virtual lectures about English accents. The participants were 42 female and 39 male learners studying at an English Department and from different academic year levels. The quantitative research method was used by using pre- and post-questionnaires, and post-tests. All the data collection tools were presented in electronic form. The findings of the pre-questionnaire showed both male and female learners prefer the American accent. With regard to the post-questionnaire, both males and females had positive attitudes with regard to using online solutions for learning English accents. The findings related to the post-test showed that both male and female EFL learners were able to distinguish between English accents (both British and American). However, gender was not found to be a statistically significant variable when it came to the participants’ attitudes towards using online solutions for learning English accents. The results of this study led to some recommendations and suggestions aimed at EFL researchers.

Teaching and Learning Adaptation: Lecturers-Students During the Covid-19 Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic is an unexpected phenomenon that must be faced by the world. Apart from economy and social, the world of education is also affected. The implementation of education had to be adapted to these unforeseen circumstances when educational institutions had to be closed. Students had to attend lectures online from their respective residences, as did lecturers when face to face lectures were taken over by online lectures. Although, students and lecturers have difficulty adjusting to these new norms in the early stages, both parties need to adapt to these changes. Whether we like it or not, the implementation of virtual teaching and learning must be used as well. Accordingly, this paper was conducted to obtain student feedback on the implementation of virtual lectures conducted by course lecturers. Students who attended the lectures were asked to comment on the implementation during the 14 weeks of the lecture in PutraBLAST UPM. Overall, the findings of the study found that lecturers can adapt to these changes by using several teaching platforms that are appropriate to the situation of students and students are also able to follow lectures smoothly.

Interactive Neurosurgery Lecture Series: A Global Education Platform of Tele-Teaching During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic and Beyond

To explore the worldwide impact of a virtual neurosurgery-neuroscience lecture series on optimizing neurosurgical education with tele-teaching. A retrospective analysis was performed from our Zoom database to collect data from October 15, 2020, to December 14, 2020, and from September 27, 2021, to December 13, 2021. A comparative analysis of participants in the 2 different time frames was performed to investigate the impact of tele-teaching on neurosurgical education worldwide. To evaluate participant satisfaction, the yearly continuing medical education reports of 2020-2021 were analyzed. Data related to the distribution of lectures by subspecialties were also described. Among the 11 lectures of the first period, 257 participants from 17 countries in 4 different continents were recorded, with a mean of 64 (standard deviation= 9.30) participants for each meeting; 342 attendees participated from 19 countries in 5 continents over the 11 lectures of the second part, with an average of 82.8 (standard deviation= 14.04) attendees; a statistically significant increase in participation between the 2 periods was identified (P < 0.001) A total of 19 (2020) and 21 (2021) participants submitted the continuing medical education yearly survey. More than 86.4% of overall responses considered the lectures "excellent." The main topics reported during lectures in 2020-2021 were related to brain tumors (33.7%) and education (22.1%). The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the need to introduce new educational approaches for teaching novel ways to optimize patient care. Our multidisciplinary Web-based virtual lecture series could represent an innovative tele-teaching platform in neurosurgical training.

Medical students' perceptions and performance in an online regional anatomy course during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The present study evaluated the students' psychological well-being, experiences, performance, and perception of learning regional anatomy remotely. A regional anatomy remote learning curriculum was designed and learning materials were delivered virtually to 120 undergraduate medical students at Jinan University, China. All the students consented and voluntarily participated in this study by completing self-administered online questionnaires including the Zung's Self-Rating Anxiety and Depression Scales at the beginning and end of the learning session. A subset participated in focus group discussions. Most of the students (90.0%) positively evaluated the current distance learning model. More than 80% were satisfied with the content arrangement and coverage. Many students preferred virtual lectures (68.2%) and videos showing dissections (70.6%) during the distance learning sessions. However, writing laboratory reports and case-based learning were the least preferred modes of learning as they were only preferred by 23.2% and 14.1% of the students, respectively. There was no significant lockdown-related anxiety or depression reported by students using depression and anxiety scales as well as feedback from focus group discussions. The surveyed students' confidence scores in distance learning were significantly higher after 5 weeks than at the beginning of the session (3.05 ± 0.83 vs. 3.70 ± 0.71, P < 0.05). Furthermore, the present results showed no significant differences between the current group's academic performance in the unit tests as well as the final overall evaluation for different parts of the course compared to that of the previous year's cohort. The findings above were congruent with focus group discussion data that the use of the online teaching platform for regional anatomy significantly improved the students' confidence in virtual and self-directed learning and did not negatively affect their academic performance.

Improvement in Housestaff Knowledge of Novel Antihyperglycemic Agents Through a Cross-Specialty Beyond Diabetes“Educational Initiative”

Lead Author's Financial Disclosures Nothing to disclose. Study Funding AstraZeneca Pharmaceutical Industry Company. Background/Synopsis Novel antihyperglycemic agents, including sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) and glucagon-like-peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP1-RA), demonstrate significant benefits in select patients with and without diabetes (T2DM). These benefits include improvements in cardiovascular, kidney and metabolic outcomes. Despite these benefits, these medications remain underutilized, attributed in part to a lack of provider knowledge across specialties. Our "Beyond-Diabetes" initiative is a health system-wide, multidisciplinary collaboration to raise awareness and prescriber utilization of these medications through a variety of informatics and educational modalities. Objective/Purpose The goal of this component of our initiative was to assess whether lecture based (grand rounds) and case-based conferences delivered via a virtual platform could improve understanding of SGLT2i and GLP1-RA among residents and fellows as part of their core curriculum. Methods We administered a 6-question electronic survey to assess knowledge of SGLT2i and GLP1-RA before and after a 1-hour, virtual case-based education that highlighted clinical uses, contraindications, dosing, adverse effects, and prescribing barriers. The housestaff were previously offered a grand rounds on the topic. The lectures and pre/post surveys were provided to internal medicine residents, as well as cardiology, nephrology, and endocrinology fellows. Efficacy was measured by analyzing the percent correct between pre/post-test questionnaires by a paired, two-sided t-test. Results After evaluating the pre-test and post-test results of the trainees, we found that among all disciplines (n = 119 pre/63 post), the average increase was 15% correct between pre-test and post-test (p-value <0.01) using random pre-test sampling. Limitations of this data include a low response rate with 28% of trainees completing the pre-test (119/418) and 53% completing the post-test (63/119). Cardiology fellows showed the greatest improvement in their overall scores with a 17% change. Endocrinology fellows had the least improvement, with a difference of 6%, likely attributable to having the highest baseline pre-test questionnaire scores. Analysis of each question showed that there was an increase in the percentage answered correctly, with the exception of one question, which had no change after education. Conclusions Our intervention demonstrates that a 1-hour virtual lecture can improve the knowledge of trainees across four disciplines regarding novel antihyperglycemic medications. This data supports the use of virtual lecture and case-based didactics to enhance provider knowledge regarding SGLT2i and GLP1-RA medications. However, further research into the most effective educational initiatives is warranted. This knowledge is essential to increase the utilization of these effective medications, which have been demonstrated to improve clinical outcomes and reduce healthcare expenditures. Nothing to disclose.

Improving Delirium Assessments in Vanderbilt Pediatric and Pediatric Cardiovascular Intensive Care Units.

Introduction:Delirium is a disturbance of attention and awareness that represents a change from baseline mental status. Accurate diagnosis of delirium is of paramount importance to improving the management of pediatric delirium in the intensive care unit. Despite ongoing education, inconsistencies in delirium assessments occur. Here, we aimed to determine the extent of the problem and increase compliance with delirium assessments.Methods:We collected preintervention data to assess baseline compliance of delirium assessments in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (PCICU) at Monroe Carell Jr Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in November 2020. We executed 2 Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles with different interventions and collected data after each and approximately 1 year after the interventions. The first intervention consisted of virtual lectures on delirium assessments for the nursing staff. The second intervention included an educational handout and a new electronic medical record documentation tool.Results:Five hundred five individual nurse-patient encounters were assessed and collected throughout the project. The mean compliance of delirium documentation before the interventions was 52.5%. Target compliance after interventions was 70%. Mean compliance was 70% after cycle 1, 78% after cycle 2, and 86% in March 2022.Conclusions:Using pre- and postintervention data from chart reviews and nurse interviews regarding delirium screenings, we found that interventions targeting nurse education and EMR flowsheet improved compliance with delirium assessment and documentation in the PICU and PCICU. Future work should focus on assessing the clinical implications of this project in diagnosing and treating delirium.

Perspectives of Zambian Clinical Oncology Trainees in the MD Anderson and Zambia Virtual Clinical Research Training Program (MOZART).

BackgroundAfrican countries are underrepresented in cancer research, partly because of a lack of structured curricula on clinical research during medical education. To address this need, the MD Anderson and Zambia Virtual Clinical Research Training Program (MOZART) was developed jointly by MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDA) and the Cancer Diseases Hospital in Zambia (CDH) for Zambian clinical oncology trainees. We explored participant perspectives to provide insight for implementation of similar efforts.Materials and MethodsThe MD Anderson and Zambia Virtual Clinical Research Training Program consisted of weekly virtual lectures and support of Zambian-led research protocols through longitudinal mentorship groups that included CDH faculty and MDA peer and faculty mentors. Participants were contacted via email to take part in semi-structured interviews, which were conducted via teleconference and audio-recorded, transcribed, and coded. Emergent themes were extracted and are presented with representative verbatim quotations.ResultsThirteen of the 14 (93%) trainees were interviewed. Emergent themes included (1) participants having diverse educational backgrounds but limited exposure to clinical research, (2) importance of cancer research specific to a resource-constrained setting, (3) complementary roles of peer mentors and local and international faculty mentors, (4) positive impact on clinical research skills but importance of a longitudinal program and early exposure to clinical research, and (5) challenges with executing research protocols.ConclusionTo our knowledge, this is the first qualitative study of African clinical oncology trainees participating in a virtual clinical research training program. The lessons learned from semi-structured interviews with participants in MOZART provided valuable insights that can inform the development of similar clinical research training efforts and scale-up.

30. COVID-19 and the Yale Response: A Semistructured Interview Study on Plastic Surgery Resident Education and Departmental Adaptation to the Lockdown

Background: COVID-19-lockdowns tasked residencies with developing creative alternatives to their standard curricula. We aimed to capture Yale Plastic Surgery’s response to understand what specific changes should be continued following the pandemic’s conclusion. Methods: A qualitative, semi-structured interview-based approach was utilized. All departmental members during the 2019-2020 academic year were invited for interviews. Results: Responses were collected from ten residents, one fellow, and nine attendings between October 2020 and February 2021. Median interview duration was twenty-two minutes. Residents/fellows noted the change as sudden, with 82% stating the increased unstructured time was challenging to process professionally. 78% of attendings noted a drastic increase in their research output. To increase collaboration between programs and fill student time, institutions opened access to their virtual lectures to each other. Students/attendings reflected highly positively on the experience, and 100% felt that analogous collaboration should continue when possible post-pandemic. Despite this, many emphasized the irreplaceability of in-person visiting lecturers and that the two formats should complement each other going forwards. A modified didactic curriculum involving journal clubs was developed to provide residents with educational time previously spent in the operating room. 90% of residents felt this provided more structure to their education than the original curriculum would have. 90% noted a significant benefit to their knowledge-base. 67% of attendings specifically highlighted the benefit of reduced unstructured free time and increased resident educational engagement. Students were invited to join craniofacial pre-surgical facial manipulation planning meetings between attendings and software representatives. 100% of residents felt observing the planning sessions was beneficial, with many explicitly noting it provided a unique perspective into the surgeon’s thought process behind planned manipulations to which they usually are not privy. 100% of students felt confident at the time of interview that the lockdown would have no lasting effects on their preparation to become a surgeon. 95% of attending physicians felt the long-term surgical ability of students would not be affected by the lockdown. Conclusion: COVID-19 forced the experimentation of novel approaches to resident education. Rapid changes enacted at Yale enabled resident training to advance, and documentation of the success of these changes can inform future curriculum design.

Memories of Negritude: the popular movement on the outskirts of Olinda as a Heritage of EJA

This article addresses part of the political, professional and spiritual trajectory of Yalorixa (a Candomble female priestess), Master in Education, specialist in Youth and Adult Education, Black Movement militant, Maria Conceição da Silva, with the objective, through this narrative, of registering and preserving the history of popular movements, black culture and Youth and Adult Education in Olinda, a city in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. The life story, the basis of this article, was narrated in the virtual lecture "Memories of Blackness: the popular movement in the outskirts of Olinda as the Heritage of Youth and Adult Education", promoted and recorded on video, on July 9, 2020, by the Collective of researchers of the Masters and PhD course in Museology from the Lusófona University of Humanity and Technologies (ULHT), called Sociomuseology+Paulo Freire. Keywords: Yalorixá; Popular movements; Black culture; Olinda, Eduacation

IEEE PELS SBC at HFUT Hosts Virtual Lectures in 2021 [Society News

Reports on various PELS society events and meetings.

0242 Intraindividual Variability in Sleep Duration Blunts Response to Academic Stressors

Abstract Introduction Cross-sectional studies indicate that greater intra-individual variability (IIV) in sleep is correlated with poorer cognitive-emotional outcomes. Yet, the causal direction of these relationships is unclear. Therefore, we conducted an experimental study to compare cognitive and stress outcomes following random assignment to normal sleep, sleep restriction, and irregular/IIV sleep conditions. Methods Ninety college students (mean age=19.16, SD=0.98; 77.78% female) completed an Organic Chemistry virtual lecture during session 1. Then, for the next five days, participants were randomly assigned to the following conditions: normal sleep (8h in bed every night), sleep restriction (6h in bed every night), or IIV sleep (nightly oscillation between 6.5h and 9.5h in bed, with mean of 8h/night). Adherence was confirmed using actigraphy. On the sixth day (session 2), participants took a test on the Organic Chemistry lecture (retention measure) and then completed a new lecture and test (acquisition measure). Participants reported their stress levels across the lectures and tests. Results ANCOVA tests showed that sleep condition did not affect retention (F=0.50, p=.611) or acquisition of Organic Chemistry knowledge (F=1.33, p=.275; adjusted for Grade Point Average). Interestingly, participants in the IIV condition reported lower stress levels throughout session 2 than students in the normal sleep condition, adjusting for baseline stress levels (p=.025). Furthermore, when collapsing across conditions, correlation analyses confirmed that greater IIV in TST predicted lower stress throughout session 2, after adjusting for mean TST and baseline stress level (r=-.33, p=.014). This “blunted” stress response following nightly sleep fluctuations was in contrast to the heightened stress levels that were associated with shorter mean TST (r=-.22, p=.051). Conclusion Brief sleep variability and mild sleep restriction had minimal impact on laboratory measures of STEM knowledge retention and acquisition. However, greater sleep IIV blunted reactivity to academic stressors, which may reflect altered hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis functions and have implications for student metacognition and course persistence. Future research should investigate the chronic effect of maintaining irregular sleep patterns and whether improving regularity of sleep across longer time intervals promotes cognitive and emotional functioning. Support (If Any) American Psychological Association, APAGS, Psi Chi, National Science Foundation (1920730, 1943323)

Building Capacity for Cancer Research in the Era of COVID-19: Implementation and Results From an International Virtual Clinical Research Training Program in Zambia.

PURPOSEThe incidence of cancer in sub-Saharan Africa is increasing rapidly, yet cancer research in the region continues to lag. One contributing factor is limited exposure to clinical research among trainees. We describe implementation and results of a virtual clinical research training program for Zambian clinical oncology fellows developed jointly by the Cancer Diseases Hospital in Zambia and the MD Anderson Cancer Center to address this need.METHODSThe clinical research training program consisted of 14 weekly virtual lectures, development of research questions by Zambian clinical oncology fellows, assignment of faculty and peer mentors, longitudinal mentorship of research protocols, and anonymous precourse and postcourse surveys. The paired t-test was used to analyze the change in academic self-efficacy scores.RESULTSFourteen Zambian clinical oncology fellows participated. Senior fellows were paired with research mentors, leading to the development of eight research protocols. A total of 70 meetings and 126 hours of mentorship occurred with a median of seven meetings and 15 hours per pairing. The precourse and postcourse survey response rates were 86% and 79%, respectively. There were statistically significant increases in nine of 12 academic self-efficacy domains. The largest gains were in ability to independently perform research (P < .001) and research mentorship (P = .02) with an average increase of 1.5 points on a five-point scale in both domains.CONCLUSIONThe Cancer Diseases Hospital MD Anderson Cancer Center clinical research training program for Zambian clinical oncology fellows led to increases in multiple academic self-efficacy domains among participants, formation of longitudinal mentorship groups with both faculty and peer mentors, and development of Zambian-led research protocols, demonstrating the feasibility of implementing a virtual model. This may be especially relevant because of shifting international collaboration paradigms after the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 and Virtual Medical Student Education.

COVID-19 and Virtual Medical Student Education.

Uncertainty Reduction of First-Year College Students in Virtual Class

Many college students are now adjusting to the virtual environment, some as they start their studies for the first time. With this significant shift, students may feel anxious or uncertain about not having sufficient information about their classmates and lecturers. It may be a big problem for new students as their level of uncertainty may increase. It is their first experience of having a virtual class without face-to-face interaction before the semester starts. This study aimed to determine the delay in communication experienced by college students and their strategies to reduce this uncertainty. The theories and concepts used in this study are the theory of uncertainty reduction and the concept of virtual classes. This study uses a descriptive qualitative approach that uses interviews with ten students from six universities as the primary data. The results showed that informants experienced uncertainty in virtual lectures, and they used active, passive, and interactive strategies to reduce this uncertainty.

Virtual community outreach during the COVID-19 pandemic: addressing health disparities for vulnerable populations.

Context: COVID-19 has worsened health disparities among vulnerable populations, including minority and non-English-speaking populations. Community outreach is an effective method to bridge the gap for those populations. Virtual Community Outreach (VCO) emerged as a novel and sustainable approach during the pandemic but is unstudied. Objective: 1) Evaluate the effectiveness and usefulness of VCO. 2) Assess impact on patient health literacy. Study Design: Prospective cohort study at a single site. Dataset: Anonymous survey data collected after each virtual community outreach meeting, May 2020-May 2021 (No July meeting). Excluded data from September 2020 meetings due to inconsistent survey questions. Population studied: Members of an email list commonly subscribed by Japanese in Pittsburgh. Only one survey accepted if multiple family members attended the meetings via one registration. Intervention: Virtual weekend meetings held monthly for two hours. Lectures provided by healthcare professionals about requested topics from previous participants, including how to schedule a healthcare appointment, COVID-19 vaccines, health maintenance in the pandemic. Outcome Measures: age group, gender, length of stay in community, satisfaction level and usefulness of VCO, self-assessed impact on health literacy, patient at our clinic or not, intention to establish care at our clinic. Results: Average attendance 12.6 families per meeting. Survey response rate: 86.2% (119/139). Respondent demographics: Female 71.1% (81/114), Age group 40-49 years old, 38.1% (43/113), followed by 30-39 years old 35.4% (40/113), Length of stay in Pittsburgh (median) 5 years. Satisfaction level with virtual outreach meeting "very satisfied" or "satisfied" 98.3% (117/119). Usefulness of virtual outreach meeting "very useful" or "useful" 96.6% (115/119). Among participants who received care at our clinic, 70.3% (45/64) reported VCO improved their health literacy, including their decision whether to seek care when symptomatic. Among participants who had never been to our clinic 81.3% (39/48) expressed intention to establish care with us. Conclusions: VCO can be a novel and useful method to improve health literacy for those with vulnerability during the COVID-19 pandemic. VCO also may expand primary care access to that population, as attendees meet clinicians through virtual lectures and learn about the clinic. Also, through VCO, the clinic can reach and recruit diverse patients.

Perception of Web-Based Didactic Activities During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Anesthesia Residents: Pilot Questionnaire Study.

BackgroundPhysical and social distancing recommendations aimed at limiting exposure during the COVID-19 pandemic have forced residency programs to increasingly rely on videoconferencing and web-based resources.ObjectiveIn this pilot study, we aimed to explore the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on residency training experience, and to delineate the perceived barriers to the successful implementation of web-based medical education.MethodsA 19-item survey was compiled and distributed electronically using Qualtrics. This anonymous survey included information on the training level of each resident, their participation in formal didactics before and during the pandemic, and their perception of the ease and limitations of virtual didactics. The resident’s opinions on specific educational resources were assessed, and the effectiveness of new delivery methods on resident engagement and learning was examined.ResultsThirty anesthesiology residents were surveyed, 19 of whom agreed to participate in the pilot study. One participant with incomplete responses was excluded, yielding a final cohort of 18 respondents. Most residents (56%, 10/18) reported that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected their residency training. The time spent on didactic training and independent studies was, nevertheless, not affected by the pandemic for 90% (16/18) of respondents. Nonetheless, 72% (13/18) of residents were less engaged during virtual lectures in comparison to in-person didactics. Important limitations included distraction from the physical environment (67%, 12/18), internet instability (67%, 12/18), less obligation to participate (44%, 8/18), technical difficulty and unmuted microphones (33%, 6/18, each), and people speaking over each other (28%, 5/18). Despite these limitations, most residents stated that they would like to keep a combination of virtual didactics including live Zoom lectures (56%, 10/18), prerecorded web didactics (56%, 10/18), and virtual ground rounds via Zoom (50%, 9/18) as the “new normal.”ConclusionsDespite important limitations listed in this report, anesthesia residents would like to keep a combination of virtual lectures and presentations as the new normal after the COVID-19 pandemic.