Analyzing the Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on DifferentEducationalAspectsofSurgicalSpecialties’ResidencyPro-gram: A Preliminary Report

The lifestyle and learning of trainees from different surgical specialties have been severely affectedby the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the growing body of research, the extent to which their surgical or educa-tional performance is affected is not yet well-understood. We investigated the Iranian multi-specialty surgicalresidents nationwide to clarify the extent this new pandemic’s has affected their surgical and educational activ-ities.

Our specialized board designed a questionnaire which was sent to residents fromthe 18th of May to 12th of Jun 2020. The questionnaire comprised demographic data, questions on the clinical,surgical, and educational activities during and before the pandemic.

Out of 700 eligible residents, 543(77%) submitted their answers to all questions. 417 (76.8%) of the respondents declared they had spent theirresidency program at a hospital that was the main referral center for patients with COVID-19 infection. Theweekly number of the outpatient and emergent visits decreased by one third (P<0.001) and one-half (P<0.001),respectively, following the pandemic. Also, the amount of surgeries has dramatically decreased (P<0.001). Themedian weekly hours devoted to face-to-face activities decreased, while the study time increased and the shareof virtual education has a five-fold increase (P<0.001).

This pandemic had a significant impact onmany aspects of training in surgical specialties’ residency program in Iran. Increasing the time available to studyis an opportunity, and online education, despite its challenges, has been effective.