ALiEM Connect: Large-Scale, Interactive, Virtual Residency Programming in Response to COVID-19.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Virtual Learning Environments
• Emergency Medicine Training

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted traditional in-person residency conferences, creating a need for remote educational solutions.
• Many programs struggled to adapt educational content to virtual formats under pressure.
• This article details the development and pilot of ALiEM Connect, a novel virtual conference model.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the design and implementation of ALiEM Connect, a large-scale virtual educational conference.
• To evaluate the pilot event of ALiEM Connect using the RE-AIM framework.
• To assess the feasibility and initial reception of a virtual conference model for emergency medicine residency education.

Main Methods:

• The ALiEM Connect pilot event was rapidly developed and implemented within two weeks.
• Livestreaming was conducted via Zoom and YouTube, with content archived on YouTube.
• Slack served as a backchannel for participant interaction and moderated Q&A with speakers.

Main Results:

• The pilot event involved 64 emergency medicine residency programs and 1,178 unique users.
• Effectiveness: 93% of trainees found the event enjoyable, and 85% considered it equivalent or superior to usual proceedings.
• Adoption and Implementation: 27% of invited programs participated, with 47% of viewers engaging in the backchannel discussion.

Conclusions:

• The ALiEM Connect pilot demonstrated a successful model for large-scale virtual medical education.
• The virtual format achieved significant reach, engagement, and positive participant feedback.
• This model offers a potential solution for future educational conferences and shared curricula in residency programs.