Ahmed N Al-Ahmari1, Abdulrazag M Ajlan2, Khalid Bajunaid3, Naif M Alotaibi4, Husam Al-Habib5, Abdulrahman J Sabbagh6, Amro F Al-Habib2, Saleh S Baeesa7. 1. Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Neurosciences, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 2. Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 3. Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 4. Department of Neurosurgery, National Neurosciences Institute, King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. 5. Department of Spine Surgery, Dr. Sulaiman Al-Habib Medical Group, Al-Khobar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 6. Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Research and Development Unit, Clinical Skills and Simulation Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 7. Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: sbaeesa@kau.edu.sa.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Online education has provided an important tool to continue medical education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our study aimed to evaluate trainee and attending perceptions of online webinars as an educational tool in neurosurgery. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey study. A web-based 19-question survey was distributed to the people who attended the webinar series that was carried out by the Saudi Association of Neurological Surgery from March 29, 2020 to May 31, 2020. Candidates were identified through their registration e-mails. The survey was distributed June 5-8, 2020. RESULTS: A total of 156 responses were received (survey response rate: 60%). The overall satisfaction rate among residents and attendings (board-certified neurosurgeons) was similar (>80%). However, only 56.4% of attendings reported they were comfortable with online webinars compared with 81.2% of residents (P value <0.0001). Seventy-five percent of residents found online lectures more useful than traditional in-person lectures compared with 52% of attendings (P value = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Online educational webinars provide an educational value that can be considered as an adjunct to traditional (in-person) education methods. Among trainees, the satisfaction of neurosurgery webinars was encouraging to consider as an education method. More objective research and progress are required to adopt and refine existing online didactic and neurosurgical teaching tools while creating more engaging future distant learning models.
BACKGROUND: Online education has provided an important tool to continue medical education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our study aimed to evaluate trainee and attending perceptions of online webinars as an educational tool in neurosurgery. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey study. A web-based 19-question survey was distributed to the people who attended the webinar series that was carried out by the Saudi Association of Neurological Surgery from March 29, 2020 to May 31, 2020. Candidates were identified through their registration e-mails. The survey was distributed June 5-8, 2020. RESULTS: A total of 156 responses were received (survey response rate: 60%). The overall satisfaction rate among residents and attendings (board-certified neurosurgeons) was similar (>80%). However, only 56.4% of attendings reported they were comfortable with online webinars compared with 81.2% of residents (P value <0.0001). Seventy-five percent of residents found online lectures more useful than traditional in-person lectures compared with 52% of attendings (P value = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Online educational webinars provide an educational value that can be considered as an adjunct to traditional (in-person) education methods. Among trainees, the satisfaction of neurosurgery webinars was encouraging to consider as an education method. More objective research and progress are required to adopt and refine existing online didactic and neurosurgical teaching tools while creating more engaging future distant learning models.
Authors: Eduardo Bracho Blanchet; Miguel Künder Klünder; José Antonio Orozco Morales; Carolina Hill De Titto; Diana Avila Montiel Journal: BMC Med Educ Date: 2022-10-17 Impact factor: 3.263