Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Online Targeted Education Programme on Vascular Surgery Aimed at Early Postgraduate Doctors

Introduction Mind The Bleep (MTB) is a junior doctor-led online education organisation that produces free open-access medical education (FOAMed) resources. This paper describes MTB vascular surgery online education programme. The target audience was early postgraduate doctors completing a rotation in vascular surgery. The aims were to increase participant confidence in basic vascular surgery topics and better prepare them for their role in vascular surgery. Methods Speakers included foundation doctors, vascular speciality registrars, consultant vascular surgeons, and a vascular nurse specialist. Post-webinar feedback surveys presented as a five-point Likert scale were used to assess the effectiveness of the course. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to analyse the data. Results Over three months, from March to June 2022, nine one-hour targeted education sessions were conducted, with a total of 564 participants. Post-session feedback was obtained from 364 participants (64.6%). There was a significant increase in the participants' level of confidence in the topic seen across all sessions (p <0.05). The participants rated webinars highly in the domains of engagement (mean 4.31), helpfulness of the content (mean 4.50), and interest (mean 4.39). From the cohort, 200 participants provided feedback on whether attending the webinar better prepared them for a vascular surgery rotation, with 66.5% (n = 133) reporting yes. Conclusion The MTB vascular surgery online education program successfully increased participants' confidence and their preparedness for a role in vascular surgery. As a result, it is a useful adjunct to undergraduate surgical education.