Imediegwu Kelechi U, Onwuka Paschaline C, Uwaezuoke Angelica C, Abor Jude C, Oladiran Ajibola
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu, Nigeria.
College of Medicine, University of Nigeria, Enugu, Nigeria.
J West Afr Coll Surg. 2022 Jul-Sep;12(3):64-70. doi: 10.4103/jwas.jwas_129_22. Epub 2022 Oct 6.
The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically impacted surgical training and education of medical students in various institutions. The South-eastern Nigeria situation was evaluated with respect to surgical training, with a view to identify gaps and proffer solutions.
To determine the impact of covid-19 pandemic on surgical training of undergraduate medical students, their experiences and alternatives being implemented to continue their education.
Design: Cross-sectional survey amongst 181 final year medical students in South-eastern Nigeria was conducted.A structured questionnaire designed using the free software Google® Forms was utilized for the study. The questionnaire was electronically distributed randomly using online platforms. The data obtained was analyzed by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS®). Ethical approval was obtained from the appropriate ethics and research unit prior to commencement of the study.
In all, 181 final year medical students completed and submitted the questionnaire. Majority of the respondents (55.8%) denoted that their exposure to surgical cases in general were markedly decreased; 61.9% and 56.9% of respondents reported a slight decrease in physical examination and clerkship opportunities respectively. 51.1% indicated that a hybrid of virtual and physical classes was used with cost of data subscription being a major challenge to active online participation according to 58.3% of the respondents. Departmental conferences and case discussions reduced according to 47.8% of respondents while 56.9% attested to a reduction in opportunities to acquire basic surgical skills since the pandemic. Majority of respondents said their personal study time remained the same and 56.9% said their overall undergraduate surgery training has been slightly worse than before the pandemic.There was no statistically significant relationship associating gender with clerkship opportunities, physical examination opportunities or exposure to surgery cases in the Covid-19 pandemic era using a p-value of <0.05 as significant .
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the clinical and teaching components of undergraduate surgical training in South-Eastern Nigeria. It has, however, led to increased adoption of digital technology which should be further explored in the face of current realities.We recommend that there should be a flexible re-adjustment of the syllables and pattern of surgical training of medical students to accommodate unavoidable events that can disrupt the training such as the covid-19 pandemic in a bid to prevent future disruptions in training.
新冠疫情对各机构医学生的外科培训和教育产生了巨大影响。对尼日利亚东南部的外科培训情况进行了评估，以找出差距并提出解决方案。
确定新冠疫情对本科医学生外科培训的影响、他们的经历以及为继续其教育而实施的替代方案。
设计：对尼日利亚东南部181名医学专业最后一年的学生进行横断面调查。使用免费软件谷歌表单设计了一份结构化问卷用于该研究。问卷通过在线平台随机进行电子分发。所获得的数据使用社会科学统计软件包（SPSS）进行分析。在研究开始前，已获得适当伦理和研究单位的伦理批准。
共有181名医学专业最后一年的学生完成并提交了问卷。大多数受访者（55.8%）表示他们总体上接触外科病例的机会显著减少；61.9%和56.9%的受访者分别报告体格检查和临床实习机会略有减少。51.1%表示采用了线上线下混合课程，58.3%的受访者称数据订阅费用是积极参与在线学习的主要挑战。47.8%的受访者称科室会议和病例讨论减少，56.9%的受访者证实自疫情以来获得基本外科技能的机会减少。大多数受访者表示他们的个人学习时间保持不变，56.9%的受访者称他们本科阶段的整体外科培训比疫情前略差。在新冠疫情时代，使用p值<0.05作为显著性标准，性别与临床实习机会、体格检查机会或接触外科病例之间无统计学显著关联。
新冠疫情显著影响了尼日利亚东南部本科外科培训的临床和教学部分。然而，它促使数字技术的采用增加，面对当前现实应进一步探索。我们建议应灵活重新调整医学生外科培训的课程大纲和模式，以适应可能扰乱培训的不可避免事件，如新冠疫情，从而防止未来培训中断。
