Hybrid Workshops During the COVID-19 Pandemic—Dawn of a New Era in Neurosurgical Learning Platforms

Abstract

Background During the COVID-19 pandemic, disruption of surgical hands-on training has hampered the skills acquisition by budding neurosurgeons. Online and virtual classrooms have not been able to substitute the hands-on experience and learning via direct interaction with senior colleagues. To overcome these challenges, we organized a hybrid workshop where simulation-based learning modules, and direct and virtual interaction with surgeons during live surgeries or didactic lectures were utilized to help delegates in understanding the nuances of neurosurgery. Methods A 3-day hybrid workshop was held in March 2021, which was attended by 133 delegates. A structured questionnaire was utilized to record their feedback. Results An overwhelming majority of the respondents (94.1%, n = 64) found hybrid conferences to be better than an online conference. Most of the respondents (88.3%, n = 60) rated the utility of direct face-to-face interaction to be more satisfying as compared with online interaction with faculty during a webinar. Again, many the respondents (86.8%, n = 59) believed that similar hybrid events will be the new normal given the current situation of COVID-19 pandemic. A large majority (88.2%, n = 60) of the respondents reported that they will prefer a hybrid event over an online conference. Conclusions In this era of the COVID-19 pandemic, “hybrid” microneurosurgery workshops offer unique opportunities to enhance surgical skills acquisition by hands-on simulation-based learning and observing live surgical demonstrations, apart from 2-way interactions with experts under one roof. This may be a stepping stone for what lies ahead in the future of neurosurgical training.

Community of Inquiry framework to evaluate an online obstetric and neonatal emergency simulation workshop for health professional students in India

“…Cohesion within the groups encouraged collaboration (Table 2, quotes 11-12, "Everyone has a role to play") and the group understood the value of collective effort rather than individual heroism (Table 2, quotes 13-15, "Saving a life is not a job anyone can do singlehandedly"). The workshop was seen as a way of preparing for an emergency as a team (Table 2, quotes [16][17] and for building a team culture of trust (Table 2, quotes 18-19, "Trusting your teammates is important").…”

“…To create an engaging online learning experience, healthcare educators must learn important technologic advances, using media that are effective both interpersonally and academically [12,16]. Additionally, explicit frameworks are critical for conceptual transferability of programmes offering useful models to other educators [46].…”

The Role of Hybrid Events in Reviving the Hotel Industry in Egypt after the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Exploratory Study

“…The hybrid concept is currently popular in academic discourse, with numerous scholars in different fields expounding their ideas concerning hybrid (AL Sayyad, 2001;Triyason et al, 2020). A hybrid is mentioned as something that is a mixture of two very different things the hybrid is used to describe a method of working that includes sometimes existence physically and sometimes existence at a distance using the Internet (Tyagi et al, 2021;Garg, 2022). A hybrid event is characterized as a live event with components of a virtual event or an online component (Livina et al, 2020;Lekgau & Tichaawa, 2022).…”

“…Checking the websites of several event and trade show planning companies reveals that many of those with plans for the coming months have virtual and hybrid meetings planned for the whole of 2021 and into 2022 (Raouf et al, 2020;Brown, 2021). The hybrid platform can link a live event and a larger online audience (Sox et al, 2017;AL-Said & Aziz, 2021;Garg, 2022). Moreover, although restrictions are gradually lifted and facilitated, they are still imposed on meetings and events (Ludvigsen & Hayaton, 2020;McCloskey et al, 2020;Garg, 2022).…”

“…The hybrid platform can link a live event and a larger online audience (Sox et al, 2017;AL-Said & Aziz, 2021;Garg, 2022). Moreover, although restrictions are gradually lifted and facilitated, they are still imposed on meetings and events (Ludvigsen & Hayaton, 2020;McCloskey et al, 2020;Garg, 2022). Therefore, event planners will continue to be required to host online audiences, and hybrid events will offer on-site integration and online sharing (Brown et al, 2021;Gossling et al, 2021).…”