key: cord-0975089-c8m2xkny
authors: Thanaraaj, Vyshnavi; Turkman, Ahmed
title: A Response to Evaluating the Usefulness and Acceptability of a Revision-Purposed “Specialties” Webinar for Educating UK-Based Fifth and Final Year Medical Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic [Letter]
date: 2021-10-08
journal: Adv Med Educ Pract
DOI: 10.2147/amep.s338847
sha: 01ede6b45a86d046ce83b77ce4e0c846bc8cfa12
doc_id: 975089
cord_uid: c8m2xkny

nan

We have read the article "Evaluating the Usefulness and Acceptability of a Revision-Purposed 'Specialties' Webinar for Educating UK-Based Fifth and Final Year Medical Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Is This the Future of Medical Education?" by Cooper et al. 1 The authors provide an interesting insight into the importance of webinars as a valuable method of learning for medical students, revising for speciality examinations. Hence, we want to present our comments on particular aspects of this study.

Cooper et al 1 assessed the usefulness of webinars using self-rated knowledge, finding "there was a significant increase in perceived knowledge of the course". However, Prince et al 2 shows self-report of skills and abilities poorly corresponds to objective performance. Therefore, one way to improve the study is to issue a knowledge written exam to assess performance. 3 For example, including a diagnostic assessment to establish their starting level and a summative assessment to evaluate the effectiveness of the webinar. This method allows the authors to identify precisely what knowledge was gained under investigation. In addition, by self-rating their knowledge, the students may have seemed inclined to increase their scores on the post-webinar questionnaire, probably out of appreciation to the organisers.

The authors of the study used a pre-and post-webinar statement to assess how confident their delegates felt about their specialities examination. From this, Cooper et al 1 found that the students felt significantly more confident about their specialities examination following the webinar. Interestingly, Morgan and Cleave-Hogg 4 found no correlation between their medical students' confidence and examination performance. Hence, it seems ineffective to assess perceived confidence as this does not appear to correlate to exam performance. Similarly, Valdez et al 5 reported that perceived confidence did not correspond with exam performance but also showed that students' knowledge retention decreased by ~10% over four months. Therefore, we believe a better educational strategy would have been to assess the long-term impact of the webinar. This can be done by presenting a similar webinar and measuring confidence levels and knowledge levels several months later.

In conclusion, the authors highlighted the significance of utilising webinar-based revision and self-reported analysis to enhance healthcare education in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Remarkably, the importance of the students' self-reflection on their confidence and knowledge regarding specialities examination to determine the effectiveness of the webinar to aid learning. However, as previously discussed, we believe more emphasis should be placed on including objective assessments to evaluate knowledge reliably and to assess long-term impact.

Dove Medical Press encourages responsible, free and frank academic debate. The content of the Advances in Medical Education and Practice 'letters to the editor' section does not necessarily represent the views of Dove Medical Press, its officers, agents, employees, related entities or the Advances in Medical Education and Practice editors. While all reasonable steps have been taken to confirm the content of each letter, Dove Medical Press accepts no liability in respect of the content of any letter, nor is it responsible for the content and accuracy of any letter to the editor.

Advances in Medical Education and Practice is an international, peerreviewed, open access journal that aims to present and publish research on Medical Education covering medical, dental, nursing and allied health care professional education. The journal covers undergraduate education, postgraduate training and continuing medical education including emerging trends and innovative models linking education, research, and health care services. The manuscript management system is completely online and includes a very quick and fair peer-review system. Visit http://www.dovepress.com/testimonials.php to read real quotes from published authors. 

Evaluating the usefulness and acceptability of a revision-purposed 'specialties' webinar for educating UK-based fifth and final year medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic: is this the future of medical education

A comparison of direct versus self-report measures for assessing physical activity in adults: a systematic review

Are standardized knowledge assessment exams the best way to assess a pharmacist's competence and should they be a mandatory componentof licence renewal? Can

Comparison between medical students' experience, confidence and competence

A comparison of pharmacy students' confidence and test performance

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this communication.