Redefining Successful Surgical Training in the Age of Social Media

Deborah S Keller, MS, MD^1,4, Borja DeLacy, MD², Beatriz Martin-Perez, MD², Hugo de Lacy, MBA³, Rodrogo Menchaca, PhD³, Manish Chand, MBA, FRCS, PhD⁴, Antonio M de Lacy, MD, PhD². ¹Columbia University Medical Center, ²Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona, ³AIS Channel, ⁴University College London Hospitals, NHS Foundation Trusts

Background: Surgical education is an active and adaptive process of developing knowledge, technical and non-technical skills. The rise of social media has created a paradigm shift in surgical education, with online learning platforms offering exposure to real-time content, expert instruction, and global collaboration. While these disruptive technologies evolve, their influence on surgical education has not been investigated. Our goal was to evaluate the growth and impact of an online surgical education model- the Advances in Surgery (AIS) channel. Our hypothesis was that utilization and engagement with the platform continues to grow, providing novel methods of measuring successful education.

Methods: Assessment of the platform’s membership demographic, user activity, and engagement was performed from inception in 2013 to Quarter 2 2017. The AIS channel uniquely provides free, high quality, innovative content from elite surgeons in scheduled and continuously available formats across colorectal, bariatric and endocrine surgery service lines. Users login to access content, with demographics, time spent, and content accessed recorded as measures of active account utilization and engagement. The main outcome measures were overall membership trends, utilization patterns by region, content type, and surgical specialty for the platform.

Results: Users were predominately male (81.2%), surgeons (92.9%), and ranged in age from 47-56 years (24.6%). The main surgical subspecialty represented was colorectal (52.6%). Active account usage/weekly recurrence was 60.1% (10% industry benchmark), with users engaged for a mean 32 minutes/ session (excluding live events). Since inception, steady exponential growth was seen across several dimensions. Registered users and unique IP addresses increased from over 3,000 and 190,128 in 2013 to over 43,000 and 2.1 million in 2017, respectively. The number of countries represented increased to reach 183 across 6 continents. At present, over 76 live surgeries and 16 live congresses have been broadcast from 26 countries, with over 2,000 surgical videos available on demand to facilitate surgical education. The greatest engagement is seen with live surgical broadcasts.

Conclusion: Our analysis demonstrated proof of concept for a unique, online surgical education model to provide effective surgical education. Success was validated through the increase in overall users, sustained active account usage, and global penetration. User preferences for live surgical broadcasts were seen. Knowing the utilization and preference patterns, the platform can continue to evolve and enhance the learners’ experience. With this growth and penetrance, there is the potential to globally improve patient outcomes and the quality of care provided.

Presented at the SAGES 2017 Annual Meeting in Houston, TX.

Abstract ID: 84961

Program Number: P336

Presentation Session: iPoster Session (Non CME)

Presentation Type: Poster