694 An Undergraduate Virtual Neurosurgery Lecture Series: Knowledge Acquisition, Career Insights and Perspectives Upon Neurosurgical Teaching in the Current Medical Curriculum
J Dhaliwal, A Mihaela-Vasilica- Surgery
Abstract
Aim
The undergraduate medical curriculum succeeds in providing students with a generalised approach to medicine yet limits in delivering adequate exposure to explore subspecialties. Conferences are integral to students’ career decisions. Our deliverance of the ‘Encephalon Lecture Series’ encompassed nine neurosurgery talks from world-renowned clinicians to allow students to further their interests. This study aims to analyse the impact of the lecture series on attendee knowledge improvement and elucidate opinions towards the amount of neurosurgical teaching within the medical curriculum.
Method
Attendee feedback was collated from questionnaires after each webinar session. Self-improvement of knowledge and neurosurgical career interest was extracted from all responses using a 10-point interval scale to determine the significance of the conference and to evaluate the differing views concerning the lack of neurosurgical teaching in the medical curriculum.
Results
A total of 199 attendees were recorded over the lecture series. The post-webinar feedback questionnaire was completed by 83 attendees (41.71%). Attendance resulted in a 62% average increase in self-reported improvement in knowledge among participants. Of the sessions, the greatest areas of knowledge improvement were indicated after the Brain Mapping webinar (110.71%), followed by the Skull Base Neurosurgery webinar (93.55%) and the Functional Neurosurgery webinar (66.15%). A mean of 8.39 ± 1.47 reflected webinars’ relevance to attendees’ future professional development.
Conclusions
Conferences are prominent resources for students to propel their knowledge, network with clinicians and discuss career options. Neurosurgery is an ever-evolving profession, and greater undergraduate exposure to the speciality will demystify the field and clarify the training pathway for students.