Download PDF
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Plast Surg 2021; 54(02): 168-171
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1731253
Original Article

Examination in the Time of COVID-19—MCh Plastic Surgery Examination: How Did We Do It?

Shashank Chauhan
1   Department of Plastic Reconstructive and Burns Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
,
Suvashis Dash 
1   Department of Plastic Reconstructive and Burns Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
,
Piyush Ranjan
2   Department of Surgical Discipline, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
,
Maneesh Singhal
1   Department of Plastic Reconstructive and Burns Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
› Author Affiliations
› Further Information
Also available at
   Permissions and Reprints

Abstract

Background Many aspects of life have been changed, after the starting of the pandemic. Modifications and improvisation in our day-to-day activities is now a new norm. During the pandemic period, continuation academic activities and conductance of examination is difficult but essential. We are sharing our experience of conductance of MCh examination during the pandemic and preparations made. This article also discussed the future of surgical assessment examination, use of technology in surgical assessment changing times.

Methods Procedural flow of the examination, Logistics and arrangements were planned and checked. Reliability and validity of questions were maintained by providing a similar set of questions and stepwise objective assessment. Assessment and feedback by the examinees and examiners on the pattern and conductance of examination were assessed by a Likert scale.

Results We found, 73% agreed examination patterns were able to test the knowledge fairly. While 80 % believed the pattern was the same for all the candidates. All the stakeholders agreed the examination conducted in a Safe and stress-free atmosphere and use of technology helpful. Fifty- three % agreed the case scenarios correctly simulate the clinical presentations. Lastly, 66 % felt the examination process is adequate for summative assessment.

Conclusions It is vital to reflect regarding the need for a uniform module to handle changing scenarios keeping the integrity and quality of the examination. Interactive screen, mannequin, and 3D model will be useful in the examination. In future, standardized examination modules for the surgical trainees will be required to perform a comprehensive assessment.

Keywords

examination - residency assessment - COVID-19 - summative assessment - surgical education - plastic surgery education


Publication History

Article published online:
05 July 2021

© 2021. Association of Plastic Surgeons of India. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
A-12, 2nd Floor, Sector 2, Noida-201301 UP, India

 

  • References

  • 1 https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/coronavirus-disease-covid-19-ventilation-and-air-conditioning#:~:text=Heating%2C%20ventilation%20and%20air,maintained%2C% 20and%20cleaned. Accessed April 9, 2021
  • 2 Saha S, Prakash P, Singhal S, Chauhan S, Singhal M, Chandrashekar S. Mobile app-based contact tracing during COVID-19-simple and without recall bias. Indian J Surg 2021; 1 (03) 1-3 DOI: 10.1007/s12262-021-02735-z.
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 3 Coronavirus in India. How life can change after lockdown [internet]. Available from: https://www.indiatoday.in/mail-today/story/coronavirus-in-india-how-life-can-change-after-lockdown-1676554-2020-05-11. Accessed April 9, 2021
  • 4 Academic syllabus AIIMS [internet]. Available at from:https://www.aiims.edu/aiims/academic/aiims-syllabus/Syllabus%20-%20DM%20%20M%20Ch.pdf. Accessed April 9, 2021
  • 5 Coronavirus Disease. 2019 (COVID-19)- prevent-getting-sick [internet]. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/index.html. Accessed April 9, 2021
  • 6 Stewart CL, Thornblade LWM, Diamond DJ, Fong Y. Melstrom LG. Personal Protective Equipment and COVID-19. Ann Surg 2020; 272: 132-138
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 7 Sun Z. 3D printing in medicine: current applications and future directions. Quant Imaging Med Surg 2018; 8 (11) 1069-1077
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 8 Satava RM. The Future of Surgical Simulation. Incomprehensive Healthcare Simulation: Surgery and Surgical Subspecialties.. Cham: Springer 2019; 379-387
    Google Scholar
  • 9 Kapadia MR, DaRosa DA, MacRae HM, Dunnington GL. Current assessment and future directions of surgical skills laboratories. J Surg Educ 2007; 64 (05) 260-265
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 10 El GE Shallaly, Mekki AM. Use of computer-based clinical examination to assess medical students in surgery. Educ Health (Abingdon) 2012; 25 (03) 148-152
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar