Towards a Virtual “Global Academia of Surgeons”

To explore the prospects of academic e-learning by evaluating our long-standing internet-based surgical learning program and to assess the impact of training on the presentation skills of our residents. The eventual goal is to search whether such models could be further developed by the European Surgical Association (ESA). BACKGROUND: E-learning has become a major educational trend particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. For more than a decade, our academic tertiary center has released weekly video-lectures covering the entire abdominal-surgical curriculum for residents. All lessons were prepared under the supervision of specialized experts and recorded and edited by a professional film team before being released on a dedicated YouTube channel (https://www.usz.ch/surgical-resident-lectures). METHODS: To date, our channel includes 120 presentations with more than 619,000 views. We conducted a survey among online users with a medical background and tested the benefits and potential for improvements of local stakeholders to collect individual reviews. RESULTS: A total of 708 users from 106 countries participated in the survey. Continuing medical education (49%), specific questions (38%), and exam preparation (33%) were the main motivations for video viewing. The preferred topics were current guidelines (69%), latest research topics (59%), and complex surgical conditions (52%). Ninety-four percent of our local audience reported a positive learning experience. CONCLUSION: E-learning can improve local academic training and promote the global visibility of strong academic centers. Providing free and unrestricted expertise via social media is a novel and groundbreaking opportunity that fills a global education gap by dissemination of surgical education on an unprecedented scale. Expert associations such as the ESA may adopt similar formats and foster their perception as true beacons of knowledge.