Online teaching of basic surgical skills to medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a case–control study

Purpose Medical education has been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in many countries, with face-to-face lectures replaced by pre-recorded videos. However, surgical skills training cannot be replaced easily by videos, as a high level of tutor–student interaction is required. Thus, we developed a new web-based surgical skill learning session (WSSL). This case–control study evaluates the surgical skills competency of medical students taught by the WSSL. Methods This case–control study compares WSSL with face-to-face tutorials. Students were assigned randomly to one of two groups according to the teaching method. Independent blinded assessment was performed by a standardized marking scheme, modified from the Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills (OSATS) global rating scale. Results We recruited 62 final-year medical students into the study, with 33 randomized to the face-to-face teaching group (control group), and 29 to the WSSL group(case group) according to their student number. The baseline demographic characteristics of the two groups were comparable. The mean score at the clinical competency assessment of the control group was 4.8/5 (range 4–5) and that of the case group was 4.7/5 (range 4–5) ( p = 1). There were no difficulties with program or hardware installation reported by the WSSL students. Conclusions Surgical skills performance was comparable between students who were taught by the WSSL and those taught by conventional face-to-face tutorials.