Video Series Helps Residents Learn “Full Spectrum” of Otolaryngology Surgical Procedures

When Zachary Schwam, MD, was doing his neurotology and lateral skull base surgery fellowship at Mount Sinai, he searched online for high-quality instructional surgical videos to gain a better understanding of the procedures he was learning. He never quite found what he was looking for.

“Textbooks and diagrams are good, but they are no substitute for watching a step-by-step, annotated video on how to perform a procedure,” says Dr. Schwam, a neurotologist in the Mount Sinai Health System, and Assistant Professor, Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

“I had made some educational videos of the otology procedures we were doing at Mount Sinai for use in conferences and lectures. After I figured out how to do some basic video editing, I thought I could make videos showing the full spectrum of ENT procedures.”

After garnering the support of the Department with a demonstration of what he had in mind, Dr. Schwam created an ambitious series of 45 videos that chronicle, step by step, a wide range of common and rare ear, nose, and throat surgical procedures. Uploaded en masse to the Department’s YouTube channel in mid-2023, they have cumulatively garnered 4 million views to date. Those numbers, he says, reflect the relative rarity of resources like these for surgical trainees.

“Every time I go to a national conference, medical students and residents whom I’ve never met come up to me to tell me they recognize me from the video series and that having access to these videos has made a huge difference for them,” he says. “Even among our trainees at Mount Sinai, these videos have helped them understand the subtleties of procedures that are difficult to visualize when we talk about them.”

The videos were produced using surgical footage captured from endoscopes and microscopes in addition to an old-fashioned camcorder. Many reflect Dr. Schwam’s expertise, including removal of acoustic neuromas and cochlear implantation, but surgeons from other divisions have contributed high-yield content to be edited and incorporated into the series. Editing the anonymized footage can be quite a time-consuming process and is done with the needs of surgical trainees in mind.

“We have opted for high-quality, concise, and detailed videos, which I don’t think you see often. It took about a year and several initial iterations to establish the standards we wanted to maintain before we were ready to share them.”

View a video from the series below:

This meticulous, conscientious approach to creating training materials has impressed Marita Teng, MD, Residency Program Director, Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She believes the results reflect not just Dr. Schwam’s technical savvy, but also his dedication to providing residents with highly effective training tools.

“He is an educator at heart, and what he has created is the best marriage of intention and innovation,” says Dr. Teng, Professor of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

“I think it also speaks to the culture of our training program at Mount Sinai,” she adds. “We are very team focused, and we want everyone to succeed. That means ensuring that the next person who follows in your footsteps can do so more smoothly, which Dr. Schwam is doing with these videos.”

Much to Dr. Schwam’s surprise, the highly technical videos have also served as educational tools for Mount Sinai patients undergoing surgical procedures and, to some degree, as marketing tools for surgeons such as him. Regardless, his focus is on providing trainees with an invaluable resource that enhances their learning experience. He has plans to create many more videos focusing on the full spectrum of ear, nose, and throat procedures.

“I think it is important that trainees have access to high-quality resources from a trusted institution such as Mount Sinai,” he says. “I want to build our online presence so that people can benefit from this content.”