Educational Effectiveness of Telementoring As a Continuing Professional Development Intervention for Surgeons in Practice: A Systematic Review

Objective: We performed a systematic review to determine the educational effectiveness of telementoring as a continuing professional development (CPD) intervention for surgeons in practice.

Background: Surgeons can mentor their peers in remote locations using videoconferencing communication, referred to as telementoring.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE and EMBASE and included studies assessing the educational effectiveness of telementoring interventions used by surgeons in practice. We excluded studies involving only trainees and those not evaluating educational effectiveness. Two reviewers independently screened, extracted data, and assessed study quality using the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument (MERSQI; maximum score 18). Educational outcomes were categorized using Moore's Outcomes Framework.

Results: We retrieved a total of 1351 records, and 252 studies were selected for full-text review. Twenty-eight studies were included with 1 randomized controlled trial, 19 cohort studies, 5 qualitative studies, and 3 case studies, totaling 178 surgeons and 499 cases. The average MERSQI score was 10.21 ± 2.2 out of 18. Educational outcomes included surgeons' satisfaction with telementoring interventions (Moore's Level 2) in 12 studies, improvement in surgeons' procedural knowledge (Level 3b) in 3 studies, improvements in surgeons' procedural competence in an educational setting (Level 4) in 4 studies, performance in a workplace-based setting (Level 5) in 23 studies, and patient outcomes (Level 6) in 3 studies. No studies reported community health outcomes (Level 7).

Conclusions: Moderate-level evidence demonstrates the use of telementoring as effective in changing surgeons' knowledge and competence in both educational and workplace-based settings. Its use is also associated with changes in patient outcomes.