Effectiveness of synchronous vs asynchronous faculty aid in learning how to diagnose, plan and perform a 44C ankle...

COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted educational activities since 2020. AO Trauma Latin American courses took place in a blended modality during 2021 and participant's feedback was positive. In this study, we aim to identify if there was any difference in learning, planning, and executing an osteosynthesis on a bone model with synchronous or asynchronous faculty support during an online asynchronous learning program.

we designed an online asynchronous course designed for teaching about trimalleolar ankle fractures. We randomized twenty participants into two groups: the control group had synchronous faculty support and the intervention group had asynchronous faculty support. Participants were evaluated with initial and final quizzes, preoperative planning, and execution of an osteosynthesis on a bone model. Comparisons of scores between CG and IG were performed using the Mann-Whitney U test for non-parametric variables. A two-tailed p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

we did not find a significant difference between synchronous or asynchronous faculty support during our asynchronous learning program in quiz results, preoperative planning, global rating scale or the result of the osteosynthesis as compared to the preoperative plan.

there appears to be no difference in participant learning with synchronous or asynchronous faculty support during an online, asynchronous course. Asynchronous activities appear to be effective teaching methods and should be considered in continuous medical education in orthopedics. Larger studies are needed to identify differences in participant learning outcomes between synchronous and asynchronous faculty support models.