[Surgical video course receives better evaluation than participation in the operating room as part of student teaching].

Abstract

Background: Imparting knowledge in the operating room represents a particular challenge in student teaching.

Objective: Participation in the operating room was compared with teaching via a surgical video course as part of the block practical course in ophthalmology at the University of Lübeck.

Methods: All students took part in both observation in the operating room and in the video course. Thereafter, they were surveyed on both forms of teaching using the same items taken from a catalogue of questions. Based on the evaluation of these answers, we carried out a direct comparison between participation in the operating room and teaching with surgical videos.

Results: Teaching of the surgical content and steps (p < 001), the underlying clinical picture (p < 001), the surgical indication (p < 001), and the surgical outcome (p < 001) was rated better in the surgical video course than for participation in the operating room. The assessment of learning gain (p < 001) was also higher in the surgical video course. Only the interest in ophthalmic surgery (p = 0.62) was rated similarly between participation in the operating room and teaching with surgical videos.

Conclusion: The video format is well suited for pure knowledge transfer. However, it does not replace participation in the operating room, where not only the operation itself can be followed but also the preparation and post-processing of the surgery. We therefore prefer a combination of both parts of the course and will retain the structure presented. In addition, we will use the knowledge gained to further improve teaching in the operating room.