Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Medical Education
Date Submitted: Jun 6, 2022
Date Accepted: Nov 30, 2022
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Beyond COVID-19: Defining a role for Webinars in Surgical Training - a Trainee Consensus
ABSTRACT
Background:
COVID-19 posed several challenges for surgical training, including the suspension of many in person teaching sessions in lieu of webinars.
Objective:
As restrictions ease, and pre-pandemic training methods can resume, this project aims to review trainees’ experiences of webinars during COVID-19, to develop recommendations for their effective integration into surgical training going forward.
Methods:
This project was led by the Association of Surgeons in Training and used an iterative process, with mixed qualitative methods, to consolidate arguments for and against webinars, and the drivers and barriers to their effective delivery, into recommendations. This involved 3 phases; (1) an online survey, (2) focus group interviews, and (3) a consensus session using a nominal group technique.
Results:
Trainees (N=281) from across specialities and grades confirmed COVID-19 led to an increase in webinars for surgical training. Whilst there were concerns, particularly around the utility for practical training (81%), the majority agreed webinars had a role in training following COVID-19 (91%). The cited benefits included improved access/flexibility and potential standardisation of training. The majority of limitations were technical. These perspectives were refined through focus group interviews (N= 18) into 25 recommendations, 23 of which were ratified at a consensus meeting, held at the ASiT 2021 conference.
Conclusions:
Webinars have a role in routine surgical training following COVID-19. The 23 recommendations cover indications and technical considerations but also discuss important knowledge gaps. They should serve as an initial framework for ensuring webinars add value, but also continue to evolve, as a tool for surgical training. Clinical Trial: Chinese clinical trial registry: ChiCTR2200055325
Citation
