Implementing Live Virtual Surgery in the COVID Era: Overcoming Medicolegal, Technical, and Educational Hurdles.

Due to current health concerns related to the coronavirus disease of 2019, remote learning has been adopted at every academic level. In congruence with policies drafted by academic surgical societies, a majority of medical schools nationwide have decided against accepting visiting medical students.[1,2] As such, there has been an emergence of virtual adaptations of educational sessions and clinical rotations across a variety of medical specialties.[3,4] Because surgical education occurs primarily in the operating room, adopting a virtual model for surgical education presents distinct challenges. At the Yale School of Medicine, we designed the first virtual surgical rotation format to center around livestream plastic surgeries across key areas of the specialty.[5] Successfully implementing this teaching modality required overcoming medicolegal challenges, the logistical and technical details involved in the creation of this educational modality, and educational hurdles.

In coordination with the Yale School of Medicine and the Yale Graduate Medical Education office, the virtual rotation was registered as a formal course for credit through the Association of American Medical College’s Visiting Student Application Service, identical to in-person visiting electives. By formally registering for the virtual rotation through the Visiting Student Application Service, virtual rotators met the same medical malpractice liability coverage and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act requirements as in-person rotating subinterns. Many of the participating students used the virtual rotation toward clinical credit for their graduation requirements. In addition, patients completed written consent forms for the hospital and university, giving permission to livestream surgery. (See Document, Supplemental Digital Content 1, which shows the photographic consent form for patients agreeing to participate in the livestream surgery, http://links.lww.com/PRS/E735.) These steps enabled clinical information to be shared freely with students in a remote learning environment.

The technical challenges included high-quality visual capture of the surgery, real-time transmission to enrolled students, and real-time interactive communication between students and the surgical team. For image capture, we utilized a high-definition resolution, loupe-mounted camera with two-times and three-times magnification options. Loupe magnification enabled optimal macro image transmission for viewing of detailed surgical anatomy. For more macroscopic surgeries, a nonmagnified camera would be preferable. The high-definition camera captured images onto a computer that livestreamed images to the virtual participants using a Zoom platform (Zoom Video Communications, San Jose, Calif.) with password protection. To enable real-time two-way communication, speakers were strategically placed in the operating room to allow faculty and students to continuously discuss the case (Figs. 1 and 2).

Fig. 1.

Setup of the live-stream surgery, with images transmitted to participants via Zoom, with password protection and communication between surgeon and applicants in real time.

Fig. 2.

High-definition resolution, loupe-mounted camera was used for the video streaming of the procedures from the surgeon point of view.

The virtual surgery curriculum included one live surgery per day spanning the breadth of plastic surgery, which replicated many of the benefits of being physically present in the operating room. Students could view a surgery step by step from the attending’s viewpoint. In addition, a multitude of students can simultaneously participate in the same case, unlike with in-person rotations. Participants were able to reference case-relevant study materials during the operation, which may enhance understanding of the procedure.

The development of live virtual surgery poses some initial challenges, but ultimately it can be replicated with ease to create a surgical rotation more authentic to the in-person experience as pandemic restrictions continue. By elucidating the process by which we implemented livestreamed surgeries, other interested institutions will be able to easily traverse the necessary medicolegal and technical aspects of constructing similar models.

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