Perspectives of physicians regarding the role of webinars on medical education during the COVID-19 pandemic

PURPOSE: To understand the perspectives of physicians regarding the role of webinars on continuing medical education. METHODS: An online survey comprising of 34 questions in nine sections was conducted using Google Forms. The link for the questionnaire was shared via e-mail and social media to practicing physicians. The survey accepted responses from September 10, 2020, to September 30, 2020. RESULTS: In total, 509 ophthalmologists and 91 physicians from other specialties participated in the survey. The physicians were predominantly employed in nongovernmental institutes (25%) or were in private practice (33.2%). The preference was to attend a weekend webinar (62.8%), in the evening (52.8%), not extending more than 2 hours (97.7%), by ≤3 reputed national speakers (89.8%), each given 15 to 30 minutes for their presentation, and the topic being clinical or surgical skill demonstration (47.5%) or recent advances (39.5%). The residents were perceived to be the most benefited (65.3%). There was an equal preference for watching a webinar live or recorded (50.7% vs. 49.3%). Zoom Video Communications, Inc., was described as the platform that offers the best experience (43.8%). Webinars were considered to be better than conferences or continuing medical education (CME) activities (55.8%). The majority (43.8%) also preferred to get CME credit points by attending paid webinars. However, the broad consensus was that webinars should not completely replace the conferences (42.5%). CONCLUSION: Our survey evaluated the participants’ perspective and the advantages and the disadvantages of a webinar and provides suggestions for the conduct of an ideal webinar with maximum active participation. Future programs would greatly be benefited by this survey.