142 - Are Learners More Distracted During Virtual Didactics? A Resident Education Quality Improvement Project

Objectives: Virtual lectures offer convenience, accessibility, and efficiency due to the ability to attend remotely. However, engagement can be limited due to distractions and lower-quality interaction between lecturers and attendees. This educational quality improvement project was conducted to improve our resident educational experience.

Design: Resident didactics had been conducted virtually since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the Spring of 2022, in-person meeting restrictions were eased, and we were able to resume in-person education. A survey was conducted among PM&R residents before this change, and this was repeated after 6 months of in-person lectures.

Results: 10 residents completed the initial survey, and 9 residents completed the follow up survey. Residents reported that they were distracted less often with in-person didactics than during virtual lectures (11% versus 50% distracted “very often,” respectively). They also reported that clinical work was less likely to interfere with learning when attending in-person didactics than during virtual lectures (22% versus 60% interfered with “very often,” respectively). There was no difference in reported difficulty in attending scheduled education activities, despite the need for commuting to in-person didactics.

Conclusions: This quality improvement project showed fewer distractions and less interference from clinical work responsibilities after resuming in-person resident didactics following the COVID-19 pandemic, and there was no difference in perceived difficulty attending lectures. The results of this quality improvement project may not be generalizable to other education programs due to program-specific factors. However, it is nonetheless important to recognize and monitor for potential negative consequences of virtual lectures for learners in comparison to in-person education.