Learners' Responses to a Virtual Cadaver Dissection Nerve Course in the COVID Era: A Survey Study

Background Virtual education is an evolving method for teaching medical learners. During the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, remote learning has provided a replacement for conferences, lectures, and meetings, but has not been described as a method for conducting a cadaver dissection. We aim to demonstrate how learners perceive a virtual cadaver dissection as an alternative to live dissection. Methods A virtual cadaver dissection was performed to demonstrate several upper extremity nerve procedures. These procedures were livestreamed as part of an educational event with multimedia and interactive audience questions. Participants were queried both during and after the session regarding their perceptions of this teaching modality. Results Attendance of a virtual dissection held for three plastic surgery training institutions began at 100 and finished with 70 participants. Intrasession response rates from the audience varied between 68 and 75%, of which 75% strongly agreed that they were satisfied with the virtual environment. The audience strongly agreed or agreed that the addition of multimedia captions (88%), magnified video loupe views (82%), and split-screen multicast view (64%) was beneficial. Postsession response rate was 27%, and generally reflected a positive perspective about the content of the session. Conclusions Virtual cadaver dissection is an effective modality for teaching surgical procedures and can be enhanced through technologies such as video loupes and multiple camera perspectives. The audience viewed the virtual cadaver dissection as a beneficial adjunct to surgical education. This format may also make in-person cadaver courses more effective by improving visualization and allowing for anatomic references to be displayed synchronously.