Medical Student Training in eHealth: Scoping Review (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND e-health is the use of information and communication technologies to enable and improve health and health care services. It is crucial that medical students get an adequate training in e-health because they will work in increasingly technology-enabled clinical environments. This trend is especially accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic as it complicates traditional face-to-face medical consultations and highlights the need for innovative approaches in health care. OBJECTIVE The main objective of this review is to evaluate the extent and nature of the existing literature on medical student training in e-health. More precisely, the aim is to examine what this education consists of, the barriers, enhancing factors and propositions for medical curriculum improvement. This review focuses primarily on some key technologies such as mobile health, the internet of things, telehealth and artificial intelligence. METHODS Searches were performed on four databases and articles were selected based on eligibility criteria. Studies had to be related to the training of medical students in e-health. Eligibility criteria mainly were: published since 2014, from a journal that was peer-reviewed, written in English or French. A grid was used for data extraction and charting. RESULTS The search resulted in 25 included articles. The most studied aspect was mobile health. e-health as a broad concept, the internet of things, artificial intelligence and programming were least covered. 52% of all studies contained an intervention; mostly regarding mobile health, electronic health records, online medical resources and programming. Findings included various barriers, enhancing factors and propositions for medical curriculum improvement. CONCLUSIONS Trends have emerged regarding the suboptimal current state of e-health training and the barriers, enhancing factors and propositions for optimal training. We recommend conducting additional studies on these themes, but also on what competencies medical students should acquire as well as both learning and patient care outcomes from this training. Additional studies should be conducted on e-health and each of its aspects, but especially on the internet of things, artificial intelligence, programming and e-health as a broad concept. Training in e-health is critical to medical practice in increasingly technology-enabled clinical environments. The need for innovative approaches in health care during the COVID-19 pandemic further highlights the relevance of this training. CLINICALTRIAL Not applicable.

A “Not So Quiet” Revolution: Systemic Benefits and Challenges of Telehealth in the Context of COVID-19 in Quebec (Canada)

“…Otherwise, integrating telehealth into standard clinical practice will remain elusive even though health care providers are now required to practice in environments where digital technologies have become essential. To date, there is no systematic approach to integrate virtual care in the curricula of most medical schools in Quebec and Canada (28,108).…”