Summary

Keywords

Introduction

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion

Financial disclosure and products

Author’s role/participation in the authorship

Ethical approval

Funding

Declaration of Competing Interest

Acknowledgments

References

Summary

Background
Since the global outbreak of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), plastic surgeons were forced to transition from traditional didactics to virtual lectures to practice “social distancing.” As this method of education continues to be widely used, understanding the current trend of its usage is critical. In this study, we performed a survey study of virtual lecture attendees and presenters to determine current usage and general consensus on virtual lectures in plastic surgery education.

Methods
An electronic survey was sent to attendees and presenters of virtual lectures using Google Forms. Demographic data, webinar usage patterns, and views on virtual lectures were collected.

Results
A total of 417 surveys were received. Prior to the COVID-19 era, 39.1percent of attendees did not use virtual lectures and 45.6percent of presenters did not give webinars at all. Both groups reported that the lack of opportunities and need were the most common cause of no use of lectures or webinars. After the outbreak, 35.4percent of attendees now use virtual lectures daily and 51.4percent of presenters give lectures weekly. Over 90percent of the study population reported a positive experience with the virtual lectures due to increased interaction, convenience, outreach, and usability. Finally, over 75percent stated that virtual lectures might replace classroom lectures in the future.

Conclusion
Our study shows that a majority of plastic surgeons have begun to use and give virtual lectures daily after the COVID-19 outbreak. Virtual education is a powerful and versatile tool that has great potentials, and it may continue to serve as a part of surgical training in the future.

Introduction

On December 2019 at Wuhan, Hubei province, China, what is now known as the Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) outbreak started.1 The virus rapidly spread around the globe, inflicting up to 2.2 million people by mid-April of 2020.2 COVID-19 is known to spread from person to person, and it can remain on the surface of plastics for up to 72 h. 3,4 Because of its high transmission rate, governments across the globe executed orders to ban leaving the home for anything other than essential activities such as grocery shopping.5 Plastic surgeons have stopped any elective surgeries to preserve personal protective equipment and joined the fight against the COVID-19 by taking care of critically ill patients at the Intensive Care Units.6

As the COVID-19 outbreak continued, the question of how to continue plastic surgery education during the outbreak arose. Plastic surgery trainees at North America traditionally attend classroom didactics, followed by online modules on the American Society Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) Education Network (EdNet).7, 8, 9 In addition, trainees have visiting professors to participate in hands on courses and attend national conferences.7 In contrast, offline learning maybe limited to countries without an established plastic surgery community and resources to train a large number of residents. In these countries, online platforms such as social media and online community are widely used to seek guidance and learn from the experts online.10, 11, 12, 13