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Live surgical education: a perspective from the surgeons who perform it
Author(s) -
Khan Shahid A.A.,
Chang Richard T.M.,
Ahmed Kamran,
Knoll Thomas,
Velthoven Roland,
Challacombe Ben,
Dasgupta Prokar,
Rane Abhay
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
bju international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.773
H-Index - 148
eISSN - 1464-410X
pISSN - 1464-4096
DOI - 10.1111/bju.12283
Subject(s) - medicine , anxiety , general surgery , psychiatry
Objective To evaluate the experience and views regarding live surgical broadcasts ( LSB ) among E uropean urologists attending the E uropean A ssociation of U rology R obotic U rology S ociety ( ERUS ) congress in S eptember 2012.Materials and Methods An anonymous survey was distributed via email inviting the participants of the ERUS congress with experience of LSB to share their opinions about LSB . The outcomes measured included; personal experience of LSB , levels of anxiety faced and the perceived surgical quality. The impact of factors, such as communication/team‐working, travel fatigue and lack of specific equipment were also evaluated.Results In all, 106 surgeons responded with 98 (92.5%) reporting personal experience of LSB ; 6.5% respondents noted ‘significant anxiety’ increasing to 19.4% when performing surgery away from home ( P < 0.001). Surgical quality was perceived as ‘slightly worse’ and ‘significantly worse’ by 16.1% and 2.2%, which deteriorated further to 23.9% and 3.3% respectively in a ‘foreign’ environment ( P = 0.005). In all, 10.9% of surgeons ‘always’ brought their own surgical team compared with 37% relying on their host institution; 2.4% raised significant concerns with their team and 18.8% encountered significantly more technical difficulties. Lack of specific equipment (10.3%), language difficulties (6.2%) and jet lag (7.3%) were other significant factors reported. In all, 75% of surgeons perceived the audience wanted a slick demonstration; however, 52.2% and 42.4% respectively also reported the audience wished the surgeon to struggle or manage a complication during a LSB .Conclusions A small proportion of surgeons had significantly heightened anxiety levels and lower perceived performance during LSB , which in a ‘foreign’ environment seemed to affect a greater proportion of surgeons. Various factors appear to impact surgical performance raising concerns about the appropriateness of unregulated LSB as a teaching method. To mitigate these concerns, surgeons' performing live surgery feel that the operation needs to be well planned using appropriate equipment; with many considering bringing their own team or operating from home on a video link.