Evaluation of Advantages and Disadvantages of the Virtual Morning Report Compared To the Classic Face-To-Face Method from the Perspective of the Paediatric Interns and Residents

Morning reports were held virtual after the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the world and Iran. We used the Skyroom platform, which was not used previously. The novelty of this method caused us to evaluate the learners' opinions about the advantages and disadvantages of the virtual method compared to the classic face-to-face one. This was a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study during 2021. The population included the interns and residents of Pediatrics. Their opinions were assessed through a questionnaire at Bahrami Children's Hospitals, Children’s Medical Center, and Valiasr Hospitals in Tehran regarding the two methods of holding the morning report. The questionnaires were distributed and completed in a period of 6 months in 2021. A total of one hundred and twelve interns and residents were included. According to them, the virtual method had a higher score in terms of increasing information technology skills and easier interpretation of the paraclinical results. The advantages of the virtual method were: no need for physical presence, availability, ease of use of the application, and time-saving as well as better prevention and protection of COVID-19. The only disadvantage of this method was the occasional low-quality of audio and video. Also, in the virtual method, there was less possibility of participating in the discussion. More than half of the participants wanted to hold face-to-face meetings with the possibility of virtual participation in future. Virtual training platforms have been able to eliminate some of the face-to-face training problems. Online morning reports can be a satisfactory complement to face-to-face ones.