Takeaways
- The future of graduate medical education involves virtual care.
The COVID-19 pandemic response has demonstrated that virtual care plays an instrumental part in patient care, and its effects will not dissipate when the pandemic is done. The curriculum for health care trainees should incorporate telemedicine competencies so that they may more effectively leverage this technology for improving care delivery.
- Selection of telemedicine patients must be stratified.
In order to obtain the highest utility for medical learners on telemedicine, there needs to be a clear decision process for which patients can be seen virtually. This involves both clinical criteria, such as avoiding virtual care for end-of-life discussions, and patient criteria, such as those who are hard of hearing.
- Virtual communication requires new communication skills.
Seeing patients via telemedicine mandates a different skill set than in-person communication. Learners must improve their “webside manner” in order to build the patient-provider relationship. Instilling these tools can pay dividends in settings where telemedicine has high yield, such as maskless communication during a pandemic.
- Health disparities could be further exacerbated by telemedicine and should not be overlooked.
Equity in access to health care applies to telemedicine as it does to many other elements. There are multiple groups that can suffer from disparities, such as patients who need interpreters, or those who have lower technological literacy and access to digital devices. Creating awareness of these pitfalls in virtual care can help medical learners recognize and support in creative solutions for these factors.
Dr. Mathews is chief, hospital medicine, at Regions Hospital, HealthPartners, St. Paul, Minn. Dr. Doshi is telemedicine director, hospital medicine, HealthPartners.
