Undergraduate surgical teaching utilizing telemedicine

Objectives To evaluate the concept of a new telemedicine orientated educational application by exposing junior medical students to surgical teaching via videoconferencing from the operating theatre and comparing this to the traditional method currently employed, which requires the presence of students in the operating room. To determine student satisfaction with this novel method and identify deficiencies associated with traditional surgical teaching. Design Students were connected by video-conferencing equipment 2 Mbit/s permanent virtual circuits that provided two-way picture and voice communication. Traditional tutoring involved students attending the operating theatre in set numbers. Video recordings were made during the telemedicine transmission for highlighting important factors relevant to the operative procedure. A questionnaire was used to assess the quality of time spent and information obtained by the students. Setting Telemedicine centre and operating theatre, St Mary's Hospital, London. Subjects Junior clinical students. Results The median score for surgical teaching utilizing videoconferencing was 9 (scale 0-10) compared to 5 for traditional operating theatre surgical teaching, All 46 (100%) subjects indicated a willingness to return for the telemedicine influenced method of tutoring compared to 65% of students exposed to the conventional method. Conclusions Our early experience with telemedicine assisted surgical teaching indicate high acceptance and satisfaction rates by clinical students. Further studies to evaluate the objective gain in knowledge associated with this method is required prior to ics implementation in any future medical curriculum.