First Virtual Live Conference in Healthcare

Virtual student-led neuroscience conferencing: a UK multicentre prospective study investigating delegate outcomes and delivery mode

BACKGROUND

Clinical neuroscience training programmes are becoming increasingly competitive to enter. UK university neuroscience societies act as a local environment for students to develop their career interests and provide portfolio building opportunities through hosting events such as annual conferences. Recently there has been a transition to more of these events being held online yet the impact of this, if any, remains unclear. This prospective study aimed to identify the impact of student-led neuroscience conferences on delegates and examine attitudes towards an online delivery approach.

METHODS

Multi-centre prospective survey study using pre-conference, post-conference, and 6-month post-conference online questionnaires distributed at 6 virtual student-led neuroscience conferences in 2021. The questionnaires had five-domains: demographics, career aspirations, academic skillsets, an educational manipulation check (EMC) and mode of delivery preference.

RESULTS

Nine hundred twenty-four surveys were completed across 559 conference attendances. 79.9% of delegates were medical students. Interest in a neuroscience career (p < 0.001), preparedness to undertake research (p < 0.001) and presentation (p < 0.001), as well as EMC scores (p < 0.001) increased immediately post conference. Most participants at 6 months post-attendance had completed an academic project (71.9%) or presentation (50.9%), although 88.8% were lost to follow up. Online format was preferred (65%) with reasons including elimination of travel and access to home facilities whilst lack of face-to-face interaction and engagement were recognised limitations.

CONCLUSION

UK student-led online neuroscience conferences play a role in developing knowledge and may facilitate career interest, academic skillset and longer term portfolio building. A hybrid virtual and in-person experience would offer an ideal solution to future conferencing, providing options promoting engagement and interactivity whilst advocating sustainability, accessibility and widening participation.

Evaluating the impact of a virtual international global surgery conference as a means for global surgery and health education

Objective

Global Surgery was established as a specialty in the 1980s to improve worldwide surgical care and delivery; however, despite having significant importance, a lack of exposure remains within undergraduate and postgraduate training schemes. This study aims to evaluate the impact of a free international virtual Global Surgery conference in raising interest, awareness and knowledge for medical and allied healthcare professional students, surgical trainees and surgeons worldwide.

Design

A free one-day international Global Surgery conference was organised in May 2021 and broadcast on a worldwide delegate online platform; there were seven keynote presentations. Registered delegates completed pre-and post-conference questionnaires. Data were collected including country of origin, training/professional level, Likert (1-5) scale ratings of conference keynote topics and VAS (0-10) scores for overall conference evaluation. Furthermore, qualitative feedback in relation to positive feedback and ideas for improvement was also invited, and in cases where multiple feedback was given, was categorised separately.

Setting

The study was undertaken by the St Andrew's Anglia Ruskin (StAAR) Research Group, School of Medicine, Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, UK.

Participants

There were 230 registered delegates; the attendance rate was 81.7% (188/230), representing a variety of different training/professional levels from 50 countries. For attendees, the questionnaire response rate was 88.8% (167/188).

Results

There was a significant increase in knowledge improvement regarding six conference topics, with five achieving a median (IQR) post-conference Likert score of 5(1) and one achieving a score of 4(1) (p < 0.001). Average confidence and knowledge remained unchanged on the use of social media to access worldwide surgical education (p = 0.667). Overall, the conference received high satisfaction (9.4/10) and recommendation (9.5/10) ratings.

Conclusion

Our findings support the concept of free Global Surgery virtual conference integration into medical and allied healthcare professional student curricula worldwide, to promote early awareness and facilitate the growth of the healthcare 'workforce of tomorrow'.

Global dissemination of knowledge through virtual platforms: Reflections and recommendations from APSA/IPEG

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancelation of conventional in-person academic conferences due to the risk of virus transmission and limited ability to travel. Both the American Pediatric Surgical Association (APSA) and International Pediatric Endosurgery Group (IPEG) converted to a virtual format for their 2020 annual meetings. The purpose of this article is to review the successful implementation of the APSA and IPEG virtual meetings and reflect upon lessons learned for future virtual conferences.

METHODS

Logistics, structure, and attendance statistics were reviewed. Informal interviews were conducted with key stakeholders and the number of presenters and participants were analyzed. Finally, post-meeting attendee surveys were conducted to elicit feedback after both virtual meetings.

RESULTS

The meetings were organized in different ways, with APSA spreading a mix of scientific and clinical educational content over several months and IPEG keeping the meeting compressed, similar to previous in-person versions. Both meetings were free and therefore attracted a high proportion of participants (720 for APSA and 834 for IPEG). The meetings were felt to be educationally appropriate by most, although timing and lack of Continuing Medical Education (CME) opportunities were detractors. Most attendees said they would be willing to pay fees similar to in-person amounts. IPEG compressed presentations into four 2-hour sessions spread over 4 weeks, but also made material available on-line through a proprietary application. There was a broad range of international attendees. IPEG attracted a larger percentage of non-members than did APSA (3:1 nonmember to member ratio). Both societies reported net losses, largely due to lost registration revenue and non-refundable costs from having to switch from an in-person meeting.

CONCLUSIONS

The main advantage of the virtual meeting was increased participation while disadvantages included the lack of networking. The key lessons learned from the meetings include methods to increase interactivity, adjustments of technical logistics, and creation of enduring material. In the future, hybrid conferences will likely become more prevalent with advantages of both platforms.

LEVEL-OF-EVIDENCE

Level V - Expert Opinion.

Evidence-based Guidelines on the Use of Virtual Surgical Education Pertaining to the Domains of Cognition and Curriculum, Psychomotor Skills Training, and Faculty Development and Mentorship

OBJECTIVE

To identify, categorize, and evaluate the quality of literature, and to provide evidence-based guidelines on virtual surgical education within the cognitive and curricula, psychomotor, and faculty development and mentorship domains.

SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA

During the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, utilizing virtual learning modalities is expanding rapidly. Although the innovative methods must be considered to bridge the surgical education gap, a framework is needed to avoid expansion of virtual education without proper supporting evidence in some areas.

METHODS

The Association for Surgical Education formed an ad-hoc research group to evaluate the quality and methodology of the current literature on virtual education and to build evidence-based guidelines by utilizing the SiGN methodology. We identified patient/problem-intervention-comparison-outcome-style questions, conducted systematic literature reviews using PubMed, EMBASE, and Education Resources information Center databases. Then we formulated evidence-based recommendations, assessed the quality of evidence using Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation, Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for Education, and Kirkpatrick ratings, and conducted Delphi consensus to validate the recommendations.

RESULTS

Eleven patient/problem-intervention-comparison-outcome-style questions were designed by the expert committees. After screening 4723 articles by the review committee, 241 articles met inclusion criteria for full article reviews, and 166 studies were included and categorized into 3 domains: cognition and curricula (n = 92), psychomotor, (n = 119), and faculty development and mentorship (n = 119). Sixteen evidence-based recommendations were formulated and validated by an external expert panel.

CONCLUSION

The evidence-based guidelines developed using SiGN methodology, provide a set of recommendations for surgical training societies, training programs, and educators on utilizing virtual surgical education and highlights the area of needs for further investigation.

Attendance and Quality and Quantity of Research Presentations at an Obstetrics and Gynecology Regional Meeting Pre- and Postchanges in Federal Funding

INTRODUCTION

Participating in scientific meetings offers value to physician trainees and faculty. In 2012, the U.S. Government (including the Department of Defense) instituted restrictions on conference travel, requiring central approval to attend. Hence, our objective was to determine the academic impact of research presented at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Armed Forces District Meeting and the effect of this federally mandated policy change on attendance and the quality and quantity of research.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Attendance logs and meeting programs were reviewed for the 3 years immediately before and after institution of travel regulations. A PubMed search of each abstract was performed to determine if it resulted in publication and the mean duration in months from presentation to publication was calculated and compared between oral and poster presentations. The top journals accepting manuscripts were noted along with the corresponding impact factor.

RESULTS

The overall meeting publication rate was 22%. Oral presentations were significantly more likely than posters to achieve publication (P < 0.001). Following implementation of travel regulations, mean faculty attendance declined from 130 per year to 105 (P < 0.05). Declines in resident attendance and publication rates were not statistically significant. The top journals publishing investigations included Obstetrics and Gynecology (n = 15), Military Medicine (n = 12), and Fertility and Sterility and Gynecologic Oncology (tied, both n = 11).

CONCLUSION

Approximately one in five presentations at the ACOG Armed Forces District Meeting are published, many in high impact journals within the specialty. Implementation of stricter travel regulations adversely impacted faculty physician attendance, but not trainee participation or the publication rate.

Web-based Conferencing: What Radiology Educators Need to Know

Advances in technology have resulted in the significant growth of web-based conferencing and teaching. While these remote sessions have many advantages, they may result in challenges and frustration for both host and attendees when there are technological issues, poor or distracting audio, or ineffective presentation styles. Knowing a few basic concepts behind web conferencing and preparing in advance can markedly improve the experience and facilitate effective distance learning and collaboration.

Social media in knowledge translation and education for physicians and trainees: a scoping review

INTRODUCTION

The use of social media is rapidly changing how educational content is delivered and knowledge is translated for physicians and trainees. This scoping review aims to aggregate and report trends on how health professions educators harness the power of social media to engage physicians for the purposes of knowledge translation and education.

METHODS

A scoping review was conducted by searching four databases (PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and ERIC) for publications emerging between 1990 to March 2018. Articles about social media usage for teaching physicians or their trainees for the purposes of knowledge translation or education were included. Relevant themes and trends were extracted and mapped for visualization and reporting, primarily using the Cook, Bordage, and Schmidt framework for types of educational studies (Description, Justification, and Clarification).

RESULTS

There has been a steady increase in knowledge translation and education-related social media literature amongst physicians and their trainees since 1996. Prominent platforms include Twitter (n = 157), blogs (n = 104), Facebook (n = 103), and podcasts (n = 72). Dominant types of scholarship tended to be descriptive studies and innovation reports. Themes related to practice improvement, descriptions of the types of technology, and evidence-based practice were prominently featured.

CONCLUSIONS

Social media is ubiquitously used for knowledge translation and education targeting physicians and physician trainees. Some best practices have emerged despite the transient nature of various social media platforms. Researchers and educators may engage with physicians and their trainees using these platforms to increase uptake of new knowledge and affect change in the clinical environment.