Training Tomorrow’s Leaders Virtually

Even before COVID-19 transformed the way we interact, done in a physical lab, including suture and incision techniques Kellogg was enhancing the way we teach our residents with as well as surgical skills performed on a model, cadaver or our “flipped classroom.” In this model, learners review online animal eye. They can now participate in an online Q&A session materials, such as lectures, prior to an in-person discussion. with an instructor. This method proved to be so popular that our faculty worked Tools like a virtual simulator allow residents to practice to move more education online, making it accessible cataract surgery, says third-year resident Emily to a wider audience. When COVID-19 state Schehlein, M.D. “All elective cases, including mandates limited in-person meetings, these efforts allowed us to quickly adapt while still giving residents a top-notch education.

Emily Schehlein, M.D., works with EyeSi, a cataract surgery simulator

“COVID-19 changed the way we interact with one another, but our teaching approach enabled us to have more robust discussions with larger class sizes, guided by faculty and virtual visiting professors,” notes Bradford Tannen, M.D., J.D., program director of the Kellogg residency. “Our faculty helped create more complex training content focused on surrogate surgical rounds, patient care and even surgical training.”

Adopting a virtual wet lab curriculum has enabled learners to continue to expand their surgical competencies while maintaining safe, physical distancing in a cost-effective format. Residents are able to practice skills and techniques traditionally done in a physical lab, including suture and incision techniques as well as surgical skills performed on a model, cadaver or animal eye. They can now participate in an online Q&A session with an instructor.

Tools like a virtual simulator allow residents to practice to move more education online, making it accessible cataract surgery, says third-year resident Emily Schehlein, M.D. “All elective cases, including cataract surgeries, were canceled during the spring — and we needed to find ways to continue our surgical training during this critical period in our residency. Fortunately, we have an excellentwet lab and the EyeSi, which allows us to simulate cataract surgery and what it’s like to be in the eye.”

“More and more we’re using virtual training as an effective method of teaching surgeons when we can’t do live instruction. We’ve learned this is helpful in creating an increasinglystructured curriculum,” says Dr. Tannen.“Our newly developed content is better than what we had before,” he says. “We now have the ability to give residents robust clinical and surgical training opportunities if we ever again experience a future reduction in live training opportunities as we did during the early months of COVID-19.”