Educational Outcomes of Virtual and in-Person Wilderness Medicine Boot Camp Training Among Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellows.

BACKGROUND: Medical boot camps provide simulation and skills training in structured environments. Wilderness Medicine (WM) is a core part of Primary Care Sports Medicine fellowships, teaching participants medical care in rigorous environments. A WM curriculum was delivered using a boot camp-style instructional format. PURPOSE: This study aimed to compare the effects of virtual versus in-person WM boot camp participation on fellows' knowledge and comfort with WM topics. METHODS: A WM boot camp was performed virtually and in-person in two consecutive years (2022 and 2023). Knowledge of individual topics was assessed using a pre and posttest and comfort in these topics immediately following the boot camp was assessed using a post-boot camp self-reported 5-point Likert scale survey. Results of these were analyzed in SAS v9.4 using exact tests for ordinal and nominal outcomes; p<0.05 indicated significance. RESULTS: In-person (n=27) and virtual (n=24) participants showed significant improvement in comfort and knowledge following the boot camp. Both groups demonstrated immediate knowledge improvement, with a median post‑test score increase from six to nine out of ten (p<0.0001). Groups were not seen as statistically different. Regarding confidence, post‑boot camp surveys demonstrated improvement in most topics compared to pre-event surveys, with a significant difference seen between the groups for the topic of improvisational splinting (p<0.0001). In-person participants reported greater improvement in comfort with splinting. In-person participants reported no desire to change their learning format, whereas virtual participants demonstrated a neutral preference for format change (median: 3; p<0.0001). CONCLUSION: Both virtual and in-person WM boot camp formats produced improvements in knowledge and comfort. These findings act as a preliminary educational evaluation for the support of hybrid education models. Given the limitations of this study, it is necessary for continued evaluation of virtual and in-person learning modalities across medical specialties to guide future medical education.