Role of procedural videos in teaching the surgery residents: a randomized control trial

To determine the GARS (Global assessment rating score) of participants before and after watching the procedural videos and to compare which method is better.

A randomized controlled trial was conducted at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Islamabad after approval from the Institutional ethics review board. Fifty-four surgical residents in training and who have completed at least 3 months of surgical training were enrolled in the study. Laceration repair procedure and surgical knots application was assessed. After the residents had performed the procedure initially, 27 were made to watch the procedural videos and learn the steps of the procedure while those of the other group did not watch the videos. Participants of both the groups were made to perform the procedure. GARS was calculated for each individual during the procedure. All procedures were performed under the supervision of a consultant surgeon who was blinded about the groups and make assessment of the GARS.

We found out the GARS before watching the videos in study and control group was (14.93 ± 3.66 vs. 14.33 ± 3.17, p = 0.528), and after watching the videos was (18.48 ± 4.01 vs. 14.78 ± 3.20, p = 0.0001) which was statistically significant and had a positive impact in teaching the surgery residents.

Pakistan, being a technologically less-advanced region, is far behind in utilizing online and video-based learning methods. The results of our study showed the positive impact of watching the procedural videos in terms of GARS, in contrast to residents who did not watch the videos.