Overview of the Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Residency Training in Surgery and Related Specialties in North-Central Nigeria

Abstract

Background: The complete lockdown in Nigeria earlier this year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted surgical care and training in all ramifications as mostly, only emergency cases were seen besides COVID-19 patients. After the lockdown, and gradual introduction of out-patient and elective surgical care and other medical services, measures to prevent transmission of the virus in our daily surgical practice as well as the introduction of virtual meetings and training are some of the new normal that will remain even after the pandemic. Aim: The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on residency training in surgical specialties in Northcentral Nigeria. Methodology: The objective was achieved using an online questionnaire distributed to residency training tertiary centres in Northcentral Nigeria. Results: We found that various aspects of training were affected differently by the pandemic, with novel strategies adopted to minimize the impact. Conclusion: We conclude that although there was a reduction in core activities of surgical training, there were strategies in place to mitigate the negative impact of the pandemic by streamlining care to protect the surgical community, whilst adopting new methods to sustain learning. There is need to incorporate these new methods into mainstream surgical training in the sub-region even after this pandemic.