Struggle in the bubble - a prospective study on the effect of remote learning and distance education on confidence in practical surgical skills acquired during COVID-19

Table 1 Baseline comparison of the characteristics of participants belonging to the COV-19 and postCOV- 19 cohorts

		Total (n = 232)	COV-19 (n = 112)	PostCOV-19 (n = 120)	p-value
Sex [n, (%)]	Male Female	82 (35) 150 (65)	33 (29) 79 (71)	49 (41) 71 (59)	0.0756
Age [years, n (%)]	19–22 23–29 ≥ 30	146 (63) 64 (28) 19 (8)	76 (68) 25 (22) 11 (10)	70 (58) 39 (33) 8 (7)	0.1592
Prior surgical experience [n, (%)]	Yes No	69 (30) 163 (70)	34 (30) 78 (70)	35 (29) 85 (71)	0.8862

Data are presented as relative frequencies and compared using Fisher’s exact test
COV-19 cohort of summer semester 2021 (with full COVID-19 restrictions), postCOV-19 cohort of winter semester 2021/ 2022 (with reduced COVID-19 restrictions)
A p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant

ISSN: 1472-6920