Wang Menghua, Liao Banghua, Jian Zhongyu, Jin Xi, Xiang Liyuan, Yuan Chi, Li Hong, Wang Kunjie
Department of Urology, Institute of Urology (Laboratory of Reconstructive Urology), West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
J Med Internet Res. 2021 Apr 21;23(4):e24369. doi: 10.2196/24369.
Due to the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, conventional face-to-face academic conferences have been restricted, and many of these conferences have moved onto the internet.
The aim of this study was to investigate the virtual conferences in the field of urology during the COVID-19 pandemic and provide suggestions for better organization of such conferences.
A cross-sectional survey was conducted from May 30 to June 15, 2020, in China. Our team designed a 23-item questionnaire to investigate the conferences attended by urologists during the COVID-19 pandemic. SPSS 22.0 (IBM Corporation) was applied to analyze the data collected.
A total of 330 Chinese urologists participated in our survey, and the response rate was 89.7% (330/368). Among the participants, 40.9% (135/330) were associate chief physicians. The proportion of participants who took part in conventional face-to-face academic conferences decreased from 92.7% (306/330) before the COVID-19 pandemic to 22.1% (73/330) during the pandemic (P<.001). In contrast, the proportion of urologists who took part in virtual conferences increased from 69.4% (229/330) to 90% (297/330) (P<.001). Most urologists (70.7%, 210/297) chose to participate in the virtual conferences at home and thought that a meeting length of 1-2 hours was most appropriate. Among the urologists, 73.7% (219/297) reported that their participation in the virtual conferences went smoothly, while the remaining respondents reported that they had experienced lags in video and audio streaming during the virtual conferences. When comparing conventional face-to-face conferences with virtual conferences, 70.7% (210/297) of the respondents thought that both conference formats were acceptable, while 17.9% (53/297) preferred virtual conferences and 11.5% (34/297) preferred conventional face-to-face meetings.
Virtual conferences are increasing in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, many aspects of these conferences could be improved for better organization.
由于新冠疫情的影响，传统的面对面学术会议受到限制，许多此类会议已转移到线上。
本研究旨在调查新冠疫情期间泌尿外科领域的虚拟会议，并为更好地组织此类会议提供建议。
2020年5月30日至6月15日在中国进行了一项横断面调查。我们的团队设计了一份包含23个条目的问卷，以调查新冠疫情期间泌尿外科医生参加的会议情况。应用SPSS 22.0（IBM公司）对收集到的数据进行分析。
共有330名中国泌尿外科医生参与了我们的调查，回复率为89.7%（330/368）。在参与者中，40.9%（135/330）为副主任医师。参加传统面对面学术会议的参与者比例从新冠疫情前的92.7%（306/330）降至疫情期间的22.1%（73/330）（P<0.001）。相比之下，参加虚拟会议的泌尿外科医生比例从69.4%（229/330）增至90%（297/330）（P<0.001）。大多数泌尿外科医生（70.7%，210/297）选择在家中参加虚拟会议，并认为会议时长1至2小时最为合适。在泌尿外科医生中，73.7%（219/297）报告称他们参加虚拟会议进展顺利，而其余受访者报告称他们在虚拟会议期间遇到了视频和音频流延迟的情况。将传统面对面会议与虚拟会议进行比较时，70.7%（210/297）的受访者认为两种会议形式都可以接受，而17.9%（53/297）更喜欢虚拟会议，11.5%（34/297）更喜欢传统面对面会议。
在新冠疫情期间，虚拟会议越来越受欢迎；然而，为了更好地组织，这些会议的许多方面仍有待改进。
