Introduction
The outbreak of COVID-19 continues to generate profound effects on surgical education
and training. Currently, surgical training programs must decide between arresting
their surgical education curriculums and devising adapted versions. By halting their
educational programs, a disservice is done to their residents, medical students, and
the surgical community. In contrast, programs designing virtual learning alternatives
to maintain their curriculums forge the future of surgical teaching [1, 2]. These
new designs create durable programs, which are able to acclimate to a multitude of
situations while continuing surgical education and training [3].
Prior to COVID-19, virtual learning was slowly mixing into pedagogical methods, creating
blended learning [3]. Blended learning utilizes online resources to enhance didactic
and clinical knowledge and reasoning skills [3]. In the surgical field, online resources
are continuously created to tailor to the needs of specific education levels, medical
students, residents, fellows, and surgeons [4–6]. Due to the crisis, the incorporation
of virtual learning in surgical education has exponentially increased.
Per the guidance of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), most medical
schools have withdrawn their students from in-hospital clerkships [7]. The AAMC standard
is for medical students to complete about 8 weeks of surgical clerkship to graduate
[7]. Current challenges center on exposing students to the surgical discipline without
exposing them to COVID-19. To mitigate the halt on in-hospital clerkships, medical
schools are maximizing the use of virtual learning platforms [2, 4]. Virtual learning
goes beyond delivering didactic materials online. Platforms exist that provide clinical
skills with decision-making exercises. Such interactive platforms, like Aquifer-Wise
MD, maintain the flow of robust information [4]. These interactive platforms provide
surgical anatomy reviews, surgical procedure walkthroughs, practice test questions,
and intricate patient cases [4]. Students practice developing differential diagnoses
and improve clinical reasoning. Using this method of continuing education, students
are exercising skills for their surgical clerkship. A study by Lindeman et al. demonstrated
the use of virtual learning in a surgical clerkship resulted in noninferior academic
outcomes with improved student satisfaction [4] In another study by Chapman et al,
medical students reported a lack of preparedness to be a significant factor contributing
to unsatisfactory operating room (OR) learning experiences [8]. Through virtual learning,
medical students will be more prepared when returning to their clerkships, capturing
more positive learning experiences.
Though virtual learning is able to support certain aspects of surgical education,
such as didactic materials, it cannot bridge certain gaps. It is difficult for the
current virtual platforms to address the lack of intra-operative experiences. For
third year medical students, the role of virtual learning should be to prepare them
for the surgical clerkship by reviewing basic materials, procedures, and clinical
skills. This approach relies on clerkship directors to appropriately adjust the third-year
schedule to allow for students to complete the entirety of the surgical rotation.
For third year students, the use of virtual learning can not only minimize the impact
of the delay caused by this pandemic but can also better prepare students for the
rigorous surgical clerkship and allowing for increased focus on intra-operative experiences
[4, 8]. In regard to new fourth-year medical students pursuing a surgical residency,
clerkship directors should adjust the fourth-year schedule to permit the completion
of online electives, such as radiology, during this delay [9]. This allows students
to reschedule surgical rotations, gathering more OR time. In addition to the previously
mentioned resources, students can take advantage of online courses in suturing techniques
with at-home practice kits. Though this does not fully replace hands-on experiences,
continuing education through virtual means is the best approach to mitigate lost time
in the operating room [3, 4].
With COVID-19, surgical residency programs are confronting massive declines in elective
cases, concerns with COVID-19 exposures, and personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages
[10]. While some programs have adjusted their infrastructure to temporarily address
the aforementioned obstacles, their strategies should be to integrate the essential
didactic materials, mitigate the resident schedule disruption, and address the rising
instances of resident burnout [11]. In an effort to resolve these issues, our program
reconstructed the residents into two teams. One team focused on clinical care while
the other concentrates on didactic-centered materials. This strategy fits the clinical
team with the appropriate numbers of residents required to deliver quality care and
cover the reduced surgical volume. Since the teams alternate each week between the
clinical and didactic, there is a reduction in exposures and in the use of PPE. A
beneficial aspect of this design is the creation of a reserve workforce, which mitigates
the effect of losing a resident to quarantine or isolation.
During the clinical week, teleconferencing is utilized for virtual hand offs and our
multidisciplinary patient care meetings. For the didactic week, residents abide by
the state’s Stay-at-Home mandate and utilize virtual learning to continue their training
[1, 5, 12]. This includes secure online academic lectures, academic conferences (e.g.,
Morbidity and Mortality Conferences), research, teleconferences and daily COVID-19
updates [12]. An additional resource provided by The Resident and Associates Society
of the American College of Surgeons (RASACS), called Hangouts, provides supplemental
didactic material for residents [5]. Hangouts offers online lectures, curriculum modules,
and educational videos for residents to follow along each week [5]. In addition to
virtual surgical education, a major benefit of establishing a didactic rotation is
addressing the issue of resident burnout. Burnout, a persistent plague for healthcare
providers, worsens when there is limited self-care and increased emotional exhaustion
[13]. Giving residents more time during the didactic week for self-care/mindfulness
can reduce burnout and improve mental health [13].
With the decrease in case variety, residents are faced with less time to complete
procedural quotas and less familiarity with other specialties [1, 14]. This generates
more difficulty for residents when contemplating specialty selections. The disruption
of the residents’ schedule requires programs to reevaluate how best to deliver educational
experiences. Simulations provide residents with a means to continue practicing their
surgical skills with attending supervision [12, 14]. This provides residents with
a means to prepare and review pertinent cases related to their procedural quotas.
To acquaint residents with specialties, programs can continue to engage residents
through the aforementioned virtual means with their current assigned specialty service.
Though virtual learning can familiarize residents in procedural processes, it cannot
directly fulfill procedural quotas or fully immerse the resident in a surgical specialty.
Programs must still design amendments to the residents’ schedule to allow for more
specialty exposure. Using virtual platforms lessens the knowledge deficit created
by COVID-19.
The greatest burdens for resident training are the decreased time spent in the OR
refining and practicing surgical techniques [10]. To augment the effects of less OR
time, the ACS offers a variety of online courses [6]. These courses include topics
on core surgical knowledge and technical skills and procedures. Surgeons can review
laparoscopic skills, ultrasound techniques and more through the interactive modules
[6]. During this crisis, virtual learning is offering viable options to learn and
refresh surgical skills.
The spread of COVID-19 will hopefully decline soon; the use of virtual learning in
surgical education should continue to grow. The novel solutions created demonstrate
the vast potential and benefits of virtual learning. Regarding surgical clerkships,
the permanent employment of blended learning should be established. As a study by
Hew and Lo demonstrated, students exhibited a significant improvement in academic
performance when taught via a blended learning style versus a traditional teaching
method (standard mean difference = 0.33, CI = 0.21–0.46, p < 0.001) [3]. Utilizing
interactive online modules creates students who are primed for their surgical clerkship,
enhancing their surgical experiences. For surgical residency programs, it is imperative
to consider weaving in virtual didactic sessions into their schedules. This strategy
is a viable approach to tackling resident burnout by allowing more time for mindfulness,
improving overall mental health and morale [13]. Utilizing blended learning in residency
promotes “dual coding” of both visual and verbal experiences, which is associated
with enhanced residents’ recall and retention. Additionally, virtual learning provides
avenues for surgeons to complete required continuing education courses. The time saved
from traveling to distant sites can instead be allocated to self-care time, helping
address physician burnout [15]. The recommendations to incorporate virtual learning
at each level of surgical education creates a constant flow of technological exposure.
Gaps in technological familiarity are diminished [16]. Across all levels of surgical
education, virtual learning provides 24/7 accessible interactive platforms and online
resources to continually enrich surgical training. At present, virtual learning serves
as a means to improve surgical education by creating easily accessible platforms for
distributing knowledge and practicing skills, not as a full replacement for hands-on
clinical experiences. Given the current circumstances, we have the opportunity to
begin mastering virtual learning. Thus, programs can begin to expand and improve their
curriculums, maintaining pace with technological developments and innovations.