Global impact of COVID-19 on surgeons and team members (GlobalCOST): a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the well-being of surgeons and allied health professionals as well as the support provided by their institutions. DESIGN: This cross-sectional study involved distributing an online survey through medical organisations, social media platforms and collaborators. SETTING: It included all staff based in an operating theatre environment around the world. PARTICIPANTS: 1590 complete responses were received from 54 countries between 15 July and 15 December 2020. The average age of participants was 30-40 years old, 64.9% were men and 32.5% of a white ethnic background. 79.5% were surgeons with the remainder being nurses, assistants, anaesthetists, operating department practitioners or classified other. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Participants that had experienced any physical illness, changes in mental health, salary or time with family since the start of the pandemic as well as support available based on published recommendations. RESULTS: 32.0% reported becoming physically ill. This was more likely in those with reduced access to personal protective equipment (OR 4.62; CI 2.82 to 7.56; p<0.001) and regular breaks (OR 1.56; CI 1.18 to 2.06; p=0.002). Those with a decrease in salary (29.0%) were more likely to have an increase in anxiety (OR 1.50; CI 1.19 to 1.89; p=0.001) and depression (OR 1.84; CI 1.40 to 2.43; p<0.001) and those who spent less time with family (35.2%) were more likely to have an increase in depression (OR 1.74; CI 1.34 to 2.26; p<0.001). Only 36.0% had easy access to occupational health, 44.0% to mental health services, 16.5% to 24/7 rest facilities and 14.2% to 24/7 food and drink facilities. Fewer measures were available in countries with a low Human Development Index. CONCLUSIONS: This work has highlighted a need and strategies to improve conditions for the healthcare workforce, ultimately benefiting patient care.

Evaluating the utility of an international webinar as a platform to educate students and doctors on the UK core surgical training portfolio.

BACKGROUND: Core Surgical Training (CST) is a competitive two-year postgraduate training program in the UK that is scored based on three equally weighted stations: management, clinical and portfolio. Preparing a surgical portfolio can start in medical school, however, there is limited guidance on what forms a competitive portfolio with the majority of advice coming from university resources and national societies which are variable throughout the country. Our aim was to assess the utility of a webinar to educate students and doctors on the CST portfolio to address this disparity. METHODS: Pre- and post-event questionnaires that included demographic data, 10-point Likert scales to self-report confidence on the understanding of the CST portfolio and its domains, and questions on utilising webinars were distributed to attendees. Pre- and post-event responses were paired, and scores were assessed for normality via the Shapiro-Wilk test; the Mann-Whitney U test was used to assess statistical significance. Cohen's d effect sizes were calculated to report standardised differences between pre-and post-event scores. RESULTS: A total of 177 participants from over 24 countries responded to both questionnaires. A statistically significant improvement in awareness of how to score maximum points was demonstrated across all nine CST domains (p < 0.0001). Regardless of whether they were UK-based or international, approximately half of the participants stated a preference for a webinar over an in-person format. Interestingly, most attendees did not feel that their university had provided them with adequate information on preparing for a surgical career with over half of the attendees stating that they had to attend events by external organisations to obtain such information. CONCLUSIONS: This study has demonstrated that a webinar can be effectively utilised to educate students and doctors on the various domains of the CST portfolio and how to maximise points in each section. Such events could address the variability of university resources and national societies across the country and provide equal opportunities for students. Further studies that directly compare webinars with in-person events and investigate long-term outcomes, such as success in CST applications, are required.

Global impact of COVID-19 on surgeons and team members (GlobalCOST): a cross-sectional study

Objectives To investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the well-being of surgeons and allied health professionals as well as the support provided by their institutions. Design This cross-sectional study involved distributing an online survey through medical organisations, social media platforms and collaborators. Setting It included all staff based in an operating theatre environment around the world. Participants 1590 complete responses were received from 54 countries between 15 July and 15 December 2020. The average age of participants was 30–40 years old, 64.9% were men and 32.5% of a white ethnic background. 79.5% were surgeons with the remainder being nurses, assistants, anaesthetists, operating department practitioners or classified other. Main outcome measures Participants that had experienced any physical illness, changes in mental health, salary or time with family since the start of the pandemic as well as support available based on published recommendations. Results 32.0% reported becoming physically ill. This was more likely in those with reduced access to personal protective equipment (OR 4.62;CI 2.82 to 7.56;p<0.001) and regular breaks (OR 1.56;CI 1.18 to 2.06;p=0.002). Those with a decrease in salary (29.0%) were more likely to have an increase in anxiety (OR 1.50;CI 1.19 to 1.89;p=0.001) and depression (OR 1.84;CI 1.40 to 2.43;p<0.001) and those who spent less time with family (35.2%) were more likely to have an increase in depression (OR 1.74;CI 1.34 to 2.26;p<0.001). Only 36.0% had easy access to occupational health, 44.0% to mental health services, 16.5% to 24/7 rest facilities and 14.2% to 24/7 food and drink facilities. Fewer measures were available in countries with a low Human Development Index. Conclusions This work has highlighted a need and strategies to improve conditions for the healthcare workforce, ultimately benefiting patient care.

Assessing the utility of virtual OSCE sessions as an educational tool: a national pilot study.

BACKGROUND: Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) are a common form of assessment used across medical schools in the UK to assess clinical competence and practical skills and are traditionally held in an in-person format. In the past, medical students have often prepared for such exams through in-person peer-assisted learning (PAL), however, due to the recent Covid-19 pandemic, many in-person teaching sessions transitioned to online-based formats. There is currently a paucity of research on the utility of virtual PAL OSCE sessions and thus, we carried out a national pilot study to determine the feasibility of virtual OSCE teaching via feedback from participants and examiners. METHODS: A total of 85 students from 19 UK-based medical schools with eight students based internationally attended the series of online OSCE workshops delivered via Zoom®. All students and examiners completed a feedback questionnaire at the end of each session regarding parameters, which included questions on pre-and post-workshop confidence in three OSCE domains: history-taking, communication and data interpretation. A Likert scale using 5 Likert items was used to self-report confidence, and the results were analysed using the Mann-Whitney U test after assessing for normality using the Shapiro-Wilk test. RESULTS: Results from student feedback showed an increase in confidence for all three OSCE domains after each event (p < 0.001) with 69.4% agreeing or strongly agreeing that online OSCE sessions could sufficiently prepare them for in-person exams. Questionnaire feedback revealed that 97.6% of students and 86.7% of examiners agreed that virtual OSCE teaching would be useful for preparing for in-person OSCE examinations after the pandemic. CONCLUSION: Most participants in the virtual OSCE sessions reported an improvement in their confidence in history-taking, communication and data interpretation skills. Of the participants and examiners that had also experienced in-person OSCE examinations, the majority also reported that they found virtual OSCE sessions to be as engaging and as interactive as in-person teaching. This study has demonstrated that virtual OSCE workshops are a feasible option with the potential to be beneficial beyond the pandemic. However, more studies are required to assess the overall impact on student learning and to determine the value of virtual OSCE workshops on exam performance.