Unmuting Medical Students’ Education: Utilizing Telemedicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond

TLDR

The COVID‑19 pandemic halted traditional clerkships, eliminating direct patient encounters, but the rapid expansion of telemedicine offers a diverse set of opportunities that can sustain high‑quality medical education while maintaining social distancing. This viewpoint outlines telehealth opportunities that simultaneously teach core patient‑care competencies and telemedicine‑specific skills. They propose a curriculum framework that incorporates telehealth encounters, case discussions, and reflective debriefs to develop core clinical and telemedicine skills.

Abstract

Due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, medical schools have paused traditional clerkships, eliminating direct patient encounters from medical students' education for the immediate future. Telemedicine offers opportunities in a variety of specialties that can augment student education during this time. The projected growth of telemedicine necessitates that students learn new skills to be effective providers. In this viewpoint, we delineate specific telehealth opportunities that teach core competencies for patient care, while also teaching telemedicine-specific skills. Schools can further augment student education through a variety of telemedicine initiatives across multiple medical fields. The explosion of telemedicine programs due to the pandemic can be a catalyst for schools to integrate telemedicine into their current curricula. The depth and variety of telemedicine opportunities allow schools to continue providing high-quality medical education while maintaining social distancing policies.