Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35933308›Full record

SynthesisJournal of surgical education

Is Online Video-Based Education an Effective Method to Teach Basic Surgical Skills to Students and Surgical Trainees? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

B P Mao, M L Teichroeb, T Lee, G Wong, T Pang, H Pleass

Registry-linked trialAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Journal of surgical education. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06475144 (Effects of an Online Escape Room on Enhancing Nurses' Knowledge, Clinical Reasoning, and Self-Efficacy Regarding Early Warning Signs of Sepsis), which is not on this map. Cited by 29 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
29citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT06475144 naunknown statusnot on this map

Effects of an Online Escape Room on Enhancing Nurses' Knowledge, Clinical Reasoning, and Self-Efficacy Regarding Early Warning Signs of Sepsis: A Randomized Controlled Trial

TypeinterventionalSponsorXin-Ning LeeRan2024 to 2024Enrolled100ConditionsEarly Goal-Directed TherapyArmsonline escape room teaching, online video-based teaching
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

29 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Trial
  4. Trial
  5. Trial
  6. Article
  7. Use of Operative Video Technology in Surgical Education: A Systematic Review.Annals of surgery open : perspectives of surgical history, education, and clinical approaches · 2026
    Review
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. Video-based microlearning improves vascular surgery resident proficiency in end-to-side anastomosis.Journal of vascular surgery cases and innovative techniques · 2025
    Article
  14. Article
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  16. Article
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  20. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

B P MaoFaculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Electronic address: bmao9831@uni.sydney.edu.au.
M L TeichroebFaculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
T LeeDepartment of Surgery, Westmead Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
G WongFaculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Centre for Transplant and Renal Research, Westmead Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
T PangFaculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Department of Surgery, Westmead Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
H PleassFaculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Department of Surgery, Westmead Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundOnline education has been increasingly utilized over the past decades. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the transition of conventional face-to-face curricula to online platforms, with limited evidence for its teaching efficacy. This systematic review aims to assess the effectiveness of online video-based education compared with standard conventional education in teaching basic surgical skills to surgical trainees and students undergoing medical training.

methodsWe performed a literature search in Embase, Medline, Cochrane CENTRAL and Scopus from inception until February 2022. Studies included were randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies. We included randomised controlled trials only for meta-analysis. The primary outcome was surgical skill proficiency. The secondary outcomes were participant perception, confidence and satisfaction. Two authors independently assessed the search results for eligibility, extracted the data and assessed the risk of bias using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool 2. Where appropriate, we performed random effects meta-analyses of the pooled study data to calculate a standardized mean difference.

resultsA total of 11 studies met the inclusion criteria totaling 715 participants; 603 were included in qualitative analysis and 380 in meta-analysis. All included studies were assessed as having a low risk of bias. The majority of studies found no significant difference between conventional and video-based education in teaching basic surgical skills, three studies found video-based education was superior and one study found conventional education was superior. There was no statistically significant difference in skill proficiency between the two groups (standardized mean difference of -0.02 (95% CI: -0.34, 0.30); p=0.90). Video-based education results in an equivalent improvement in confidence and satisfaction rates. Additional benefits of video-based education include convenience, accessibility and efficiency.

conclusionsBasic surgical skills can be taught as effectively through online video-based education as conventional teaching methods. Online education should be utilized as an adjunct to medical curricula beyond the COVID-19 era.

Indexed as

COVID-19Education, DistanceCurriculumEducational StatusHumansStudentsmedical educationmedical studentmeta-analysisonline educationsurgerysystematic review

Identifiers

PMID35933308
PMCPMC9356715

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.