Surgical Learning: A Survey to Evaluate How Ophthalmologists Learn New Surgical Techniques

To evaluate ophthalmologists' attitudes and approaches to learning new surgical techniques.

This cross-sectional, prospective study distributed an anonymous, voluntary web-based survey via email to surgeons of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO). The survey collected data on demographics, fellowship training, practice location, the number of trainee surgeons supervised, the impact of Coronavirus disease 2019, resources for surgical learning, and perceived barriers to learning and adopting new techniques. Multiple-choice, scaled response, and open-ended questions were used in the survey.

Seventy-five surveys were completed (7.1% of 1050 members). Multivariable analysis demonstrated that the number of new surgical techniques adopted over the preceding 5 years was associated with the number of trainee surgeons supervised (P = 0.003); membership of the New Zealand branch of RANZCO (P = 0.021); self-reported interest in innovation (P = 0.043); and inversely associated with the age of the surgeon (P = 0.002). YouTube was the most frequently used resource. It was used by 96% of respondents and rated the most useful resource by 95.8% of respondents. The two most frequent barriers to learning and adopting new surgical techniques were fear of adverse outcomes (90.7%) and having an existing technique with good outcomes (90.7%).

This is the first study exploring how ophthalmologists learn new surgical techniques. The widespread use of YouTube for surgical learning highlights the opportunity for postgraduate colleges to create or post quality-controlled online video resources for their members.