Elver Ashlie A, Braasch Maxwell C, Byer Stefano, Gilmer Lisa, Sykes Kevin J, Tuchek Chad, DiPasco Peter
University of Kansas School of Medicine, Kansas City, KS.
Department of Pediatrics.
Kans J Med. 2021 Nov 5;14(3):265-268. doi: 10.17161/kjm.vol14.15545. eCollection 2021.
Programs that offer early exposure to surgery for medical students foster interest in and positive perceptions of surgery. The COVID-19 pandemic led to suspension of these activities at our institution, the University of Kansas School of Medicine. In response to the lack of virtual alternatives, a pilot virtual surgery enrichment program was implemented for first-year students in place of in-person surgical exposure. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of in-person and virtual-based surgical education programs to expose preclinical medical students about the surgical realm of medicine.
First-year medical students participated in either a virtual (Group A) or in-person (Group B) week-long surgical enrichment program. Group assignments were dictated by COVID restrictions on each of our three medical school campuses: Salina, Wichita, and Kansas City. Pre- and post-surveys with a 14-question multiple-choice assessment of surgical knowledge were distributed to participants. Paired Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests and Mann-Whitney-U tests were used for statistical analysis.
There were 14 participants in Group A and 7 participants in Group B. Both groups improved significantly from pre- to post-assessment score. (Group A, p = 0.01; Group B, p = 0.04). There was no difference between groups in the magnitude of score improvement from pre- to post-assessment (p = 0.59).
This pilot program demonstrated that virtual platforms can be a method to provide meaningful clinical experiences in surgery to preclinical medical students restricted from clinical activities. Further development of mentorship in virtual surgical programs and assessment of subjective experience is needed.
为医学生提供早期手术接触机会的项目能够培养他们对手术的兴趣和积极看法。新冠疫情导致我们堪萨斯大学医学院暂停了这些活动。为应对缺乏虚拟替代方案的情况，我们为一年级学生实施了一个试点虚拟手术强化项目，以取代面对面的手术接触。本研究的目的是比较面对面和基于虚拟的手术教育项目在向临床前医学生介绍医学手术领域方面的效果。
一年级医学生参加了为期一周的虚拟（A组）或面对面（B组）手术强化项目。分组由我们三所医学院校区（萨利纳、威奇托和堪萨斯城）各自的新冠限制措施决定。我们向参与者发放了包含14道关于手术知识的多项选择题评估的前后调查问卷。采用配对威尔科克森符号秩检验和曼 - 惠特尼 - U检验进行统计分析。
A组有14名参与者，B组有7名参与者。两组从评估前到评估后的分数均有显著提高。（A组，p = 0.０1；B组，p = 0.04）。从评估前到评估后，两组分数提高的幅度没有差异（p = 0.59）。
这个试点项目表明，虚拟平台可以作为一种方法，为受临床活动限制的临床前医学生提供有意义的手术临床体验。需要进一步发展虚拟手术项目中的导师指导并评估主观体验。
