Can Orthopedic Surgery be taught online? A comparative analysis of medical students’ academic performance in online versus in- person class teaching

Objective: Due to controversy and the lack of information in the literature, we conducted this study to assess the impact of online teaching on students’ academic performance during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and evaluate whether the theoretical part of a surgical specialty, such as an orthopedic surgery, can be learned efficiently using online modalities. Design This is an observational study that compared the learning outcomes of medical students, in college of medicine at King Saud University, who took fully online orthopedic surgery courses into the learning outcomes of those who took similar courses in-person prior to the COVID-19 pandemic Participants Grades of 530 fourth-year medical students were collected. Of the total participants, 321 (60.6%) were males and 209 (39.4%) were females. A total of 270 (50.9%) students attended in-person classes while 260 (49.1%) students attended online classes during the pandemic Results For the online classes, the grades ranged between 20.5 and 40 with a median 32.6. Students who attended online classes had significantly higher grades than those who received in-person classes (32.4 ± 4.8 versus 30.2 ± 4.3, p < 0.001). Conclusions Our study showed that there has been significant improvement in the academic performance of students in online classes compared to in-person classes. Online teaching could be considered in orthopedic theoretical knowledge. Appropriate technical support and training for online classes for faculty and students should be established