Virtual or In-Person Conferences? The Success of the Visiting Scholars in Pediatric Anesthesia Program (ViSiPAP) as a Hybrid Model for Perioperative Education.

Background: The Visiting Scholars in Pediatric Anesthesia Program (ViSiPAP) was founded in 2017 to promote professional and academic development and provide opportunities for extramural networking and collaboration in pediatric anesthesia. The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the rapid pivot to a virtual format in 2020. With the lifting of COVID-19 travel restrictions, in-person exchanges were reinstituted.

Aims: Our goal was to examine the advantages and disadvantages of both the virtual and in-person formats for ViSiPAP.

Methods: We surveyed ViSiPAP participants from 2021 to 2023 to compare in-person and virtual formats. Questions included Likert-scale ratings and free-text qualitative questions.

Results: The survey response rate was 81.1% (n = 146). 46.3% of respondents preferred virtual exchanges, while 53.7% preferred an in-person format. Among those participating in person, 87% preferred the in-person format, while among those participating virtually, only 54% preferred the virtual format; 63% of men preferred in-person exchanges, and only 47% of women preferred in-person exchanges. Faculty rank or Under-Represented in Medicine (URiM) status did not significantly affect format preference. Most participants strongly agreed that they would recommend participating in ViSiPAP to their colleagues and that ViSiPAP should be continued in both the in-person and virtual formats.

Conclusions: ViSiPAP is a valuable professional development program. Both in-person and virtual sessions are well received by participants. A mixed model incorporating both formats allows pediatric anesthesia divisions and speakers to optimize ViSiPAP for their individual institutions. These results could be extrapolated to other departmental conferences that have shifted to the virtual format.