Multi-Modal Evaluation of the East Midlands Gi Webinar Series: A Trainee-Led Innovation Born out of Adversity

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic led to the suspension of all faceto- face teaching for gastroenterology trainees in the UK. From June 2020, we organised and delivered a weekly webinar, mapped to the UK higher speciality training (HST) gastroenterology curriculum, comprising a 40-minute lecture, delivered by an international multi-disciplinary faculty, followed by 10-20 minutes of moderated discussion via Microsoft Teams. Webinars were coordinated and moderated live by East Midlands Gastroenterology trainees and made available on demand for attendees to view in between commitments. Any professional in Gastroenterology, including trainees, consultants and allied health professionals, not limited to geographical location, was allowed to request access to the platform. Aims & Methods: We aimed to perform a multi-modal evaluation of the webinar series. First, we reviewed participants' demographics and weekly webinar attendance data. Second, we conducted a curriculum-mapping exercise of the programme to identify the breadth of topics covered. Third, we conducted two web-based feedback surveys in June 2021 and April 2022 to assess participants' satisfaction with the webinar series. Finally, since the webinar series has substituted face-to-face training for East Midlands trainees, we performed a projected calculation of CO2 emission saving based on the cessation of face-to-face teaching within the East Midlands region. Result(s) Between June 2020 and April 2022, a total of 84 webinars were delivered by 68 consultants, 13 senior trainees and two allied health care professionals. 47.6% of the speakers were from outside East Midlands. A total of 746 participants were registered on the online platform, of whom 85.6% were from the UK and 14.4% were from abroad. Live attendance data were available for 33 sessions (mean 55 +/- 13 attendees). The webinar series has, so far, covered over 80% of the UK HST gastroenterology curriculum. Fifty-nine participants and 20 participants completed the first and second feedback surveys, respectively. 98% of the first survey respondents felt that the webinars fulfilled their educational goals and 100% rated the programme's quality as good/very good. This positive feedback was sustained during the second survey with 100% reporting that the webinars fulfilled their educational goals and 90% rating the programme's quality as good/very good. 97% of the first survey respondents and 100% of the second survey respondents wanted the webinar series to continue, even when face-to-face teaching resumes. Using the East Midlands region as an example, we estimate a saving of >2.9 metric tons in CO2 emission/region, equivalent to the recycling of one ton of waste/year from the replacement of face-to-face with web-based teaching. Conclusion(s) We have demonstrated that the East Midlands Gastroenterology webinar series is a greener, highly valued, and sustainable trainee-led innovation, bringing together an international community of gastroenterology practitioners. A significant proportion of the UK HST curriculum can be delivered online. Future evaluations should aim to evaluate the scalability of such innovation across different programmes in different settings.