A qualitative exploration of medical students’ placement experiences with telehealth during COVID-19 and recommendations to prepare our future medical workforce

Abstract

Background Clinical practice is increasingly being digitalised. Little is known about how medical students learn and were exposed to telehealth during COVID-19. This is particularly important if we wish to further improve healthcare access and equity in rural areas and vulnerable populations. This formative study sought to explore the exposure and attitudes of medical students on telehealth and COVID-19 during their rural clinical placement in 2020 and provide recommendations. Methods Focus groups were held in August 2020 after completion of a 12-month rural placement. Questions centred around students’ exposure and experiences with telehealth during COVID-19. Data was analysed using thematic analysis. Results There has been a clear shift in students now acknowledging the importance of telehealth and, more importantly, expressing a clear wish for telehealth to be embedded in the curriculum starting in their first year. In tandem with this, students expressed the need for their clinical supervisors or hospital teams to have the capability to practice telehealth efficiently as this will improve the telehealth experience and lead to better engagement for both staff and students. Furthermore, it was felt that rural clinicians should play a lead role in telehealth implementation given it is integral to rural practice. Conclusions Medical students are more exposed to and more interested to learn about telehealth since COVID-19 and wish to see telehealth training built into their curriculum from the outset of medical school. Themes that emerged from this formative study can potentially assist in planning for telehealth education during and post COVID-19 and inform further telehealth research. Embedding telehealth skills training and guidelines into the medical program, and particularly rural medicine training programs, is essential to prepare the future medical workforce to ensure access and quality patient care during pandemics and also to improve access for rural Australians.

Demand for Mobile Health in Developing Countries During COVID-19: Vietnamese’s Perspectives from Different Age Groups and Health Conditions

“…Previous literature has shown the benefits of in-depth interviews and thematic analysis techniques to explore users' intentions and decisions to adopt a new digital product across the healthcare industry in diverse contexts. 51,52 In-depth interviews allow researchers to obtain detailed and valuable information about participants' attitudes, expectations, and concerns. Thematic analysis provides a guideline for organizing collected data and generating practical insights.…”

“…Recognize mHealth applications and engage with mHealth daily 6 (12) Engage with mHealth daily, but do not recognize the mHealth applications 18 (36) Never heard of the mHealth concept 26 (52) https://doi.org/10.2147/PPA.S348790…”

The Benefits, Challenges and Impacts of Telehealth Student Clinical Placements for Accredited Health Programs During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Clinical placement shortages are well reported in the literature as a limiting factor for health workforce development and caps on accredited tertiary health courses ( 19 , 20 , 27 ). This research has exposed exciting opportunities to increase clinical placement capacity.…”

“…There is some research supporting the use of telehealth placements within accredited health programs such as medicine ( 20 – 22 ), nursing ( 23 – 25 ), and allied health ( 26 , 27 ). Telehealth can increase the placement capacity and scope ( 28 ), enable remote and retrospective supervision ( 27 , 29 ), provide a safe learning environment for students during the pandemic ( 15 , 20 , 27 ), improve students' capability with telehealth improving employability ( 15 ), and offers opportunities for the development of interprofessional education ( 20 , 27 , 30 – 35 ). Signal et al ( 7 ) argue that telehealth should become a core competency of practice, including in professionally accredited university courses ( 5 ).…”

Supervising Students During a Global Pandemic: Clinical Educators’ Perceptions of a Student-Led Telerehabilitation Service During COVID-19

“…While the nature of the rapid introduction of restrictions meant that opportunities for preparation and training in the use of telehealth were limited, CEs identified and discussed the strategies they utilised to upskill themselves, including peer-mentoring, self-directed learning and accessing professional development resources. The importance of CEs who are confident and capable of delivering effective telehealth has been identified as an important factor for student learning experience ( Pit et al, 2021 ). While participants were experienced CEs, findings indicate that telehealth specific upskilling (including both technical skills and modifications to student supervision to fit a telehealth model of service delivery) is required for CE confidence, and to facilitate positive student and client outcomes.…”