{"id":"bee192a0-d971-4bca-904e-f544bef07bed","slug":"covid-19-impact-on-the-global-neurosurgery-resident-training-course-and-admission-a-scoping-review","title":"COVID-19 impact on the global neurosurgery resident training course and admission: A scoping review","authors":["Yao Christian Hugues Dokponou","Arsene Daniel Nyalundja","Arsene Desire Ossaga Madjoue","Mèhomè Wilfried Dossou","Omar Badirou","Nicaise Agada","Katib Lasssissi","Fritzell Marc adjovi","Laté dzidoula Lawson","Nourou Dine Adeniran Bankole"],"abstract":"Background: This study looks at how COVID-19 affected the admission and training of neurosurgical residents worldwide. Methods: From 2019 to 2021, we reviewed multiple databases (i.e., Google Scholar, Science Direct, PubMed, and Hinari) to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on neurosurgery resident training and admission in low middle-income countries (LMICs) and high-income countries (HICs). We then utilized a Wilcoxon signed-rank test to evaluate the difference between the two LMIC/HICs and employed Levene’s test to assess the homogeneity of variances. Results: There were 58 studies that met our inclusion criteria; 48 (72.4%) were conducted in HIC and 16 (27.6%) in LMIC. The admission of new residents was mostly canceled in HIC (31.7%; n = 13) and in LMIC (25%; n = 4) from 2019 to 2021 due to COVID-19. Learning modalities changed to include predominantly video conferencing (i.e., 94.7% [n = 54] of cases). Further, neurosurgery was largely restricted to emergency cases alone (79.6% [n = 39]), with only 12.2% (n = 6) elective cases. The result was a marked reduction in resident surgical training (i.e., 66.7% [n = 10] in LMIC and 62.9% [n = 22] in HIC), despite increased workloads in (i.e., LMIC [37.4%; n = 6] and HIC [35.7%; n = 15]). This was attributed to the marked reduction in the number of surgical patients allotted to each resident (i.e., LMIC [87.5%; n = 14] than HIC [83.3%; n = 35]). Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic markedly disrupted neurosurgical education globally. Although differences have been found between LMICs and HICs training, the reduction of neurosurgical case-loads and surgical procedures has significantly impacted neurosurgical training. The question remains, how can this “loss of experience” be redressed in the future?","thumbnailUrl":"https://sni-digital-videos.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/bee192a0-d971-4bca-904e-f544bef07bed/featured/hero-1781560424866.png","publishDate":"2023-03-24T00:00:00.000Z","doi":"10.25259/SNI_68_2023","categories":["General Neurosurgery","Review Article"],"fullTextUrl":"https://surgicalneurologyint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/12217/SNI-14-96.pdf"}