Dataset Information

Evaluation of an interactive virtual surgical rotation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To evaluate medical student and attending surgeon experiences with a novel interactive virtual Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery (OHNS) medical student elective during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Study design

A virtual OHNS elective was created, with three components: (1) interactive virtual operating room (OR) experience using live-stream video-conferencing, (2) telehealth clinic, (3) virtual didactics.

Setting

OHNS Department at the University of Pennsylvania (May 2020 to June 2020).

Methods

Six medical students from the University of Pennsylvania; five attending otolaryngologists. Two surveys were designed and distributed to participating medical students and attending surgeons. Surveys included 5-point Likert scale items, with 1 indicating "not at all" and 5 indicating "very much so".

Results

Response rate was 100% for both surveys. Students on average rated the educational value of the telehealth experience as 4.2±1.2, and the virtual OR experience as 4.0±0.6. Most students (n=5, 83%) indicated that they had enough exposure to faculty they met on this rotation to ask for a letter of recommendation (LOR) for residency if needed, while attending surgeons had an average response of 3.0±1.0 when asked how comfortable they would feel writing a LOR for a student they met through the rotation. A majority of students (n=4, 67%) felt they connected enough with faculty during the rotation to ask for mentorship. Half the students (n=5, 50%) indicated that the rotation allowed them to evaluate the department's culture either "extremely well" or "somewhat well".

Conclusions

Overall, participating students described this innovative virtual surgical rotation as an educationally and professionally valuable experience. With the continued suspension of visiting student rotations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this virtual model may have continued relevance to medical education.

SUBMITTER: Byrnes YM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8064875 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:ProblemIn March 2020, the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) became a global pandemic. Medical schools around the United States faced difficult decisions, temporarily suspending hospital-based clerkship rotations for medical students due to potential shortages of personal protective equipment and a need to social distance. This decision created a need for innovative, virtual learning opportunities to support undergraduate medical education.ApproachEducators at Yale School of Medicine developed a novel medical student curriculum converting high-fidelity, mannequin-based simulation into a fully online virtual telesimulation format. By using a virtual videoconferencing platform to deliver remote telesimulation as an immersive educational experience for widely dispersed students, this novel technology retains the experiential strengths of simulation-based learning while complying with needs for social distancing during the pandemic. The curriculum comprises simulated clinical scenarios that include live patient actors; facilitator interactions; and real-time assessment of vital signs, labs, and imaging. Each 90-minute session includes 2 sets of simulation scenarios and faculty-led teledebriefs. A team of 3 students performs the first scenario, while an additional team of 3 students observes. Teams reverse roles for the second scenario.OutcomesThe 6-week virtual telesimulation elective enrolled the maximum 48 medical students and covered core clinical clerkship content areas. Communication patterns within the virtual telesimulation format required more deliberate turn-taking than normal conversation. Using the chat function within the videoconferencing platform allowed teams to complete simultaneous tasks. A nurse confederate provided cues not available in the virtual telesimulation format.Next stepsRapid dissemination of this program, including online webinars and live demonstration sessions with student volunteers, supports the development of similar programs at other universities. Evaluation and process improvement efforts include planned qualitative evaluation of this new format to further understand and refine the learning experience. Future work is needed to evaluate clinical skill development in this educational modality.