Perspectives of physicians regarding the role of webinars on medical education during the COVID-19 pandemic.

PURPOSE

To understand the perspectives of physicians regarding the role of webinars on continuing medical education.

METHODS

An online survey comprising of 34 questions in nine sections was conducted using Google Forms. The link for the questionnaire was shared via e-mail and social media to practicing physicians. The survey accepted responses from September 10, 2020, to September 30, 2020.

RESULTS

In total, 509 ophthalmologists and 91 physicians from other specialties participated in the survey. The physicians were predominantly employed in nongovernmental institutes (25%) or were in private practice (33.2%). The preference was to attend a weekend webinar (62.8%), in the evening (52.8%), not extending more than 2 hours (97.7%), by ≤3 reputed national speakers (89.8%), each given 15 to 30 minutes for their presentation, and the topic being clinical or surgical skill demonstration (47.5%) or recent advances (39.5%). The residents were perceived to be the most benefited (65.3%). There was an equal preference for watching a webinar live or recorded (50.7% vs. 49.3%). Zoom Video Communications, Inc., was described as the platform that offers the best experience (43.8%). Webinars were considered to be better than conferences or continuing medical education (CME) activities (55.8%). The majority (43.8%) also preferred to get CME credit points by attending paid webinars. However, the broad consensus was that webinars should not completely replace the conferences (42.5%).

CONCLUSION

Our survey evaluated the participants' perspective and the advantages and the disadvantages of a webinar and provides suggestions for the conduct of an ideal webinar with maximum active participation. Future programs would greatly be benefited by this survey.