title: Live surgery: national survey of United Kingdom ophthalmologists.
abstract: A questionnaire survey with forced-choice and free-text items was sent to 856 United Kingdom ophthalmology consultants to ascertain their views on live surgery (ie, direct transmission of surgery from an operating room into a conference hall). The response rate was 63%. The 2 most popular answers for the benefits of live surgery were that it demonstrated surgical practice unedited (65% of respondents) and was interesting to watch (60%). The 2 most commonly stated disadvantages were that the surgeon was placed under greater stress (92%) and that such surgery was conducted with unfamiliar operating rooms/equipment/staff (91%). The complication rate was perceived to be higher than the background rate by 68% of respondents. Sixty-eight percent said there were no teaching benefits that could not be delivered by edited video recordings. Eighty-three percent thought that live surgery was not in the patient's best interest, and 64% thought it should not continue to be performed. The results suggest a need for detailed guidance and standards for the conduct of live surgical demonstrations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom. emma.hollick@kch.nhs.uk
authors.forename: Emma J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Hollick
authors.forename: Bruce D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Allan
mesh_terms: D004501:Education, Medical / Q000379:methods; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D013508:Ophthalmologic Surgical Procedures; D009885:Ophthalmology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013686:Telemetry; D006113:United Kingdom