When virtual becomes reality: short term impressions of a two-week virtual urology sub-internship program

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted medical student education and posed a unique challenge for educators, especially for surgical clerkships. In response to COVID-19 rotation restrictions, we implemented a virtual urologic surgery sub-internship program and evaluated medical student impressions of the experience.

A two-week urology curriculum was created with content delivered by interactive videoconferencing. The curriculum included synchronous and individual learning with live patient clinical experiences in the outpatient clinic and operating room, lectures, departmental conferences, a suture lab, self-reflective writing exercises, and an oral presentation. Student impressions were assessed with an exit survey. Descriptive statistics were utilized to evaluate the 5-point Likert scale responses.

A total of 40 students applied, and 18 were selected for 1 of 5 two-week rotation blocks. All students successfully passed the rotation. Of the 18 students who participated, 16 (88.9%) completed the exit survey. The overall experience was rated as "strongly positive" by 14 of 16 (87.5%) students. The learning experience was rated as 4.75 (0.45) (average (SD)). The rotation positively impacted our virtual students' plan to apply to this residency program (mean 4.81 (0.54)). All students reported they would recommend this rotation to a fellow student, and feedback regarding the self-reflection activities was positive.

We successfully implemented a two-week virtual urology sub-internship rotation with a wide variety of clinical and educational experiences. The rotation was well received by our medical students. This is a unique experience in urology that can easily be implemented by other surgical sub-specialty programs in the future.