Abstract
Understanding the basic set-up of surgery, as well as having a first-hand exposure to common surgical procedures, have been an important part of the medical curriculum. Conventionally it is brought about by medical students visiting the operating theatres and observing the surgery. However, hospital being a high-risk area would pose certain health hazard for medical student teaching. Furthermore, on-site surgery observation would require consumption of personal protective equipment. When surgical exposure for medical students is not available at this critical moment of Hong Kong, there is an urgent need to supplement this area of teaching for them.
Our project aims to bring the surgery experience to students online instead of bringing the medical students to operation theatres. We shall develop surgery videos of 5 common urological procedures, including prostate surgery, kidney surgery, bladder surgery, reconstructive surgery, and biopsy procedure. Background knowledge of each procedure will be given, operations would be recorded and key steps of the operation would be presented. Animation would be incorporated to enhance the learning experience, which provides a perspective even on-site operation theatre visit cannot match. These videos would be uploaded online as video atlas for student learning. A short quiz would accompany the videos to consolidate the knowledge conveyed.
Brief write-up
Project objectives
The project is for the preparation of surgical videos covering urological surgery and procedure. The objectives are to give the students background knowledge of the procedure, and to bring the view of surgery to students as if they are in the operating theatres.
Activities, process and outcomes
Activities of the project included video shooting during surgeries, animation production for illustration, recording sessions for video voice over, and student tutorials for surgery background information and online video sharing. The process enhanced surgical exposure and teaching by semi-live surgical videos and illustration. In the end, students were more aware of the essence of the surgery and the relevant anatomy.
Deliverables and evaluation
Two videos covering 2 major urological procedures and 3 common urinary diversion techniques were produced. Evaluation by student survey on the project’s success of knowledge transfer, appropriateness of delivery and ease of access were found to be satisfactory.
Dissemination, diffusion, impact and sharing of good practices
The online surgical videos were uploaded to the blackboard platform towards the end of the project. Any medical students in the junior and senior surgical dressership, as well as any colleagues in the team, could access the videos for learning and teaching purposes.
Impact on teaching and learning
Conventionally surgery was taught through live exposure. The online surgical video library provides an efficient way to bring a concise surgery experience by focusing on the essential steps of the surgery, as well as enhancing the learning experience through illustration and animation. The general responses from the students were positive.
