Introduction
Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) infection is a life-threatening
respiratory disease and first appeared in Wuhan, China, and spread
worldwide in few moths and became a pandemic (1). All countries and
communities are collaborating their effort to slow down the spread of
infection. Undoubtedly, the pandemic’s most negative impact has been and
continues to be on the healthcare system and healthcare workers. All
elective treatments were delayed, and the healthcare system began to
struggle with the pandemic. As an effect of this, of course, all doctors
started to spend their energies on this pandemic.
As another aspect of the work, all kinds of collective organizations are
postponed as well as in the medical field. However, even if practical
training is interrupted, theoretical training is important for
physicians to update their knowledge and, more importantly, to keep
their motivation high in this challenging pandemic conditions. The
web-based seminars (webinars) are the solutions to this issue. The
face-to-face online meetings are provided with advantages such as
talking with mentors and taking answers to your questions on the area
with the personal touch and social activities. The webinars have several
advantages, such as no requiring travel, reducing cost, and watching at
home comfort using different mobile devices. The technological
advantages started to shifted education into digital fields.
Our association (Society of Urological Surgery) developed an application
called Uropedia in 2017 (Figure 1). Uropedia is an online library for
urologists compatible with the mobile ecosystem, including mobile
phones, tablets, and Android TV. We share surgical techniques, videos of
seminars, annual meetings, and a summary of changes on guidelines such
as Covid-19 recommendations in this application. There is also a
textbook prepared by our association, through which we can access
theoretical information through this app.
During the pandemic, the webinars are increased all over the world. They
are reduced costs and more comfortable, but the satisfaction of
participants is still debatable. The literature recently focuses on
webinars. Nevertheless, no published study has examined participatory
behavior, and we even did not yet know the efficacy of webinars.
In this study, we aimed to evaluate audiences’ behaviors before and
after COVID-19.