AUTHOR=Faisal Umme Habiba , Idrissi Yassine Alami , Chaurasia Bipin , Takasumi Alexis , Baldoncini Matias , Patel Akshal , Monteith Stephen , McDougall Cameron , Costa Matias 

TITLE=Advancing neurosurgical education in the age of online learning and global knowledge sharing: impact of Cerebrovascular Q&A webinar series

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Surgery

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/surgery/articles/10.3389/fsurg.2023.1274954

DOI=10.3389/fsurg.2023.1274954

ISSN=2296-875X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p>The Seattle Science Foundation created the Cerebrovascular Q&amp;A series as a free web-based tool to educate physicians and physicians-in-training about cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgery across geographical boundaries and different levels of training.</p></sec><sec><title>Objective</title><p>This study aims to assess the educational impact and clinical implications of the Cerebrovascular Q&amp;A webinar series, hosted by the Seattle Science Foundation.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>A digital anonymous, self-administered survey was sent to the live webinar participants. The survey contained questions about the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants, their perception of the content of the webinar series, and its impact on academic and clinical practice. The data collected from the Survey-Monkey platform was exported to Microsoft Excel which was used to perform all statistical analyses. The viewer metrics on Zoom and YouTube were also analyzed to understand trends observed among a diverse global cohort of participants.</p></sec><sec><title>Result</title><p>A total of 2,057 people hailing from 141 countries had registered for the Cerebrovascular Q&amp;A series. The response rate to the questionnaire was 12.63% (<italic>n</italic> = 260). Respondents hailed from 65 countries, of which the majority were from India (13.46%, <italic>n</italic> = 35) and United States (11.15%, <italic>n</italic> = 29). Most of the participants were male (82.69%, <italic>n</italic> = 215), while only 15.77% (<italic>n</italic> = 41) were female. The maximum number of participants were neurosurgery attendings (36.65%, <italic>n</italic> = 92) followed by neurosurgeons undergoing fellowship training (24.70%, <italic>n</italic> = 62) and students who were currently in residency training (15.54%, <italic>n</italic> = 39). 75.97% (<italic>n</italic> = 196) heard of the Cerebrovascular Q&amp;A series through the emails from Seattle Science Foundation. 21.5% (<italic>n</italic> = 56) learned about the webinar series through social media. 75% of participants reported that the webinar content was advanced and comprehensive, and the selection of speakers was relevant. 63.08% (<italic>n</italic> = 164) found the webinars sparked innovative research ideas. Additionally, 55% (<italic>n</italic> = 143) reported changes in their clinical practice based on the acquired knowledge.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>The findings from this study reveal that webinar-based medical education in cerebrovascular neurosurgery is highly effective and influential. Web-based platforms and social media present a potent strategy to overcome barriers, emphasizing the need for targeted efforts to engage more women in medicine and neurosurgery recruitment.</p></sec>