Effectiveness of Digital Teaching Under Pandemic Conditions for the Donati Suture Technique

TL;DR

This study found that digital instructional videos can effectively teach the Donati suture technique, even during the pandemic, with learning outcomes comparable to hands-on practice.

Contribution

The study demonstrates that digital teaching can standardize and retain practical medical skills like the Donati suture technique.

Findings

Both groups improved significantly from T1 to T3, with no significant difference between them at T3.

G1 showed consistently low variability in performance, while G2 normalized after repeated practice.

Digital videos helped standardize skill acquisition despite initial differences in student abilities.

Abstract

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the expansion of digital teaching. However, both students and instructors reported challenges in effectively teaching practical skills under pandemic conditions. This study aimed to evaluate whether the Donati suture technique for wound closure can be effectively taught using instructional videos.

Methods

A total of 64 final-year medical students were randomly assigned to two groups (G1 and G2). At T0, G1 watched an instructional video on the Donati suture technique, while G2 performed self-practice exercises. At T1, both groups were tasked with closing a 5 cm wound within 10 minutes. After one week, G1 conducted self-practice exercises (T2) followed by a second wound closure task (T3), whereas G2 watched the video at T2 before performing the T3 task. Performance was evaluated using global and specific ratings.

Results

Both groups showed significant improvement from T1 to T3 (G1 p=0.012; G2 p=0.0002). At T3, there was no significant difference between groups. G2 demonstrated high variability at T1, which normalized at T3. G1 showed consistently low variability across all time points.

Conclusions

Digital instructional videos can effectively teach haptic skills such as the Donati suture technique. Learning outcomes are retained over time, and videos can help standardize skill acquisition among students with heterogeneous initial abilities.

Figures