ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Analogous to the situation in other disciplines, digital ENT teaching made significant progress during the pandemic. Most ENT clinics nationwide were able to offer a complete virtual teaching program in time. Innovative teaching methods were also used early on. This was recognized in student teaching evaluations. Due to the expansion of virtual reality (VR) in medical teaching, even greater satisfaction should be expected through improved teaching quality. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Surveys were performed with students (nâ¯= 180) of the ENT block internship in the summer semester of 2023. The aim of the evaluation was to determine the students' satisfaction with and subjective effectiveness of the newly implemented VR digital teaching method for teaching ear anatomy and coniotomy. A survey was also carried out among resident physicians. RESULTS: The ENT teaching was perceived favorably by the students, with an average rating of 11.7 out of 15. The learning effectiveness and the value of VR in the ENT learning portfolio was evaluated varyingly by the students. The physicians' assessment was different, with a more positive perception. CONCLUSION: Virtual reality represents an innovative component in the teaching portfolio of otolaryngology. This new teaching method is viewed and accepted as a future-oriented tool. Remarkably, the physicians involved voted consistently positively, while the students gave more critical assessments and pointed out limitations in the individual and subjective areas. These findings are in contrast to the further development of innovative teaching methods demanded by student interest groups.
Subject(s)
Otolaryngology , Students, Medical , Virtual Reality , Otolaryngology/education , Humans , Germany , Surveys and Questionnaires , Computer-Assisted Instruction/methods , Male , Female , Adult , Young Adult , Attitude of Health PersonnelABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Digital transformation in curricular teaching in medicine comprises the use of digital teaching and learning formats as well as the transfer of digital skills for medical staff. Concepts of knowledge transfer and competency profiles also have to be adapted and transferred in advanced training due to necessary changes. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was an evaluation of the current state of digital transformation in otorhinolaryngology teaching in undergraduate and advanced training at otorhinolaryngology departments of university medical centers in Germany. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A questionnaire with nine questions on digital transformation was sent to the assistant professors of 37 national university ENT departments. The anonymous survey was conducted online via the online platform SurveyMonkey®. RESULTS: Of the contacted assistant professors, 86.5% participated in the survey. Teaching sessions on digital skills for medical students are part of the curriculum in only 25% of ENT departments. Digital teaching formats are used by half of the departments in undergraduate training. Only 56.25% of the assistant professors receive support to realize the changes required by digital transformation. In 40.62% of departments, the issue of digital transformation is broached during advanced training, but only 28.12% use digital teaching methods to train junior doctors. CONCLUSION: Aspects of digital transformation are implemented mainly in undergraduate education, partly driven by the COVID 19 pandemic. Overall, there is still considerable backlog in undergraduate and advanced training in ENT.
Subject(s)
Curriculum , Education, Medical, Undergraduate , Otolaryngology , Otolaryngology/education , Germany , Humans , Education, Medical, Undergraduate/methods , Education, Medical, Undergraduate/trends , Attitude of Health Personnel , Computer-Assisted Instruction/methods , Surveys and Questionnaires , Faculty, Medical/educationABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: During the COVID-19 pandemic, a particular challenge in the transition to digital teaching was to teach practical skills such as sonography of the head and neck online. The aim of this study was to validate the digital sonography course for medical students established at the Freiburg University Hospital ENT Department. METHODS: Participants were 178 students of human medicine. The study group simulated the sonography examination at home with a dummy transducer using the Peyton method under the guidance of a tutor via video seminar. In a subsequent learning success check, the results of the students in the online course were compared with those of the control group, who learned sonography in the classroom. RESULTS: Students of the online course achieved comparable results to the classroom group. CONCLUSION: This study shows that practical skills which require extensive equipment such as a sonography machine can be taught to a certain extent digitally or at least in a hybrid form.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Clinical Competence , Computer-Assisted Instruction , Ultrasonography , COVID-19/diagnostic imaging , Humans , Germany , Computer-Assisted Instruction/methods , Curriculum , Education, Distance/methods , Male , Female , Educational Measurement , Otolaryngology/education , SARS-CoV-2 , AdultABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Cricothyrotomy is an invasive and rare emergency intervention to secure the airway in a "cannot intubate, cannot ventilate" situation. This leads to lack of routine. Cricothyrotomy is performed only hesitantly. Therefore, we aim to improve teaching by including a virtual reality (VR) cricothyrotomy as a learning tool. METHODS: We programmed the VR cricothyrotomy in the C# programming language on the open-source Unity platform. We could include 149 students that we randomly assigned to either a study group (VR cricothyrotomy) or control group (educational video). We asked the study group to subjectively rate the VR cricothyrotomy. To evaluate our intervention (VR cricothyrotomy) we took the time participants needed to perform a cricothyrotomy on a plastic model of a trachea and evaluated the correct procedural steps. RESULTS: The majority of students that performed the VR simulation agreed that they improved in speed (81%) and procedural steps (92%). All participants completed the cricothyrotomy in 47s ± 16s and reached a total score of 8.7 ± 0.7 of 9 possible points. We saw no significant difference in time needed to perform a cricothyrotomy between study and control group (p > 0.05). However, the total score of correct procedural steps was significantly higher in the study group than in the control group (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Virtual reality is an innovative learning tool to improve teaching of emergency procedures. The VR cricothyrotomy subjectively and objectively improved correct procedural steps. Digitized education fills an educational gap between pure haptic experience and theoretical knowledge. This is of great value when focusing on extension of factual knowledge. TRIAL REGISTRATION: DRKS00031736, registered on the 20th April 2023.
