The lasting footprint of COVID-19 on surgical education: A resident and attending perspective on the global pandemic

Abstract

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted surgical training nationwide. Our former curricula will likely not return, and training will need to adapt, so we are able to graduate residents of the same caliber as prior to the pandemic. Methods A survey evaluating perceptions of changes made in surgical training was conducted on surgery residents and attendings. Results Disaster medicine training has become more relevant and 85% residents and 75% attendings agreed it should be incorporated into the curriculum. Safety of family was the most significant concern of residents. Virtual curriculum was perceived to be acceptable by 82% residents and only 22% attendings (p < 0.01). Residents (37%) were less concerned than attendings (61%) of falling behind on their overall training (p = 0.04). Both groups agreed operative skills would be adversely affected (56%vs72%; p = 0.37). Conclusions To maintain an effective surgical curriculum, programs will need to implement new educational components to better prepare residents to become surgeons of the future.

The 7 Pillars of Training Minimally Invasive Thoracic Surgery: Embracing the Virtual Era

“…Incorporating concise and impactful instructional videos prior to surgery into a trainee’s preoperative case preparation may augment the trainees’ learning curve and ultimately contribute to improved safety measures. 12,13…”

Surgical Education in the 21st Century

“…The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on all aspects of general surgery training. Residency conferences and didactics moved to online platforms, rotations were canceled to reduce viral exposure, and non-urgent elective cases were delayed or rescheduled [7,8,27]. A concern for skills decay with the decrease in opportunities for procedural training emerged as a result.…”

“…Surgical training has been uniquely impacted both operatively and nonoperatively. Residents had to quickly adapt to a 'new normal' as many elective surgeries were canceled, resident lectures and conferences were moved to online platforms, and rotations were canceled or shortened to redistribute the workforce [7,8]. This pandemic has demonstrated that surgical education needs to adapt to train tomorrow's surgeons.…”

Academic surgery amid the COVID-19 pandemic: A perspective of the present and future challenges

“…However, there have been no further studies to validate this teaching method. One recent survey [ 34 ] found that many residents view publicly available material on the internet, which is often not peer-reviewed, potentially industry-driven and unregulated [ [35] , [36] , [37] ]. Access to Society webpages and education portals that offer peer-reviewed videos of higher quality may be limited due to cost or subscription requirements.…”