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

Yasmeen M Byrnes; Neil N Luu; Ariel S Frost; Tiffany N Chao; Robert M Brody; Steven B Cannady; Karthik Rajasekaran; Rabie M Shanti; Jason G Newman

doi:10.1016/j.wjorl.2021.04.001

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

World J Otorhinolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2021 Apr 24;8(4):302-307. doi: 10.1016/j.wjorl.2021.04.001. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Yasmeen M Byrnes¹, Neil N Luu¹, Ariel S Frost², Tiffany N Chao², Robert M Brody², Steven B Cannady², Karthik Rajasekaran², Rabie M Shanti², Jason G Newman²

Affiliations

¹ Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Jordan Medical Education Center, 3400 Civic Center Blvd, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
² Department of Otorhinolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.

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.

Keywords: Covid-19; Otolaryngology; Surgical video capture; Telemedicine; Undergraduate medical education; Virtual surgical education.