Establishing Interest in the Development of a Novel Telehealth Curriculum for Emergency Medicine Resident Physicians
Abstract
Learning Objectives: To assess EM resident enthusiasm for a telehealth curriculum and to develop a series of telehealth training modules for EM resident physicians.
Introduction/Background: According to the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), emergency telehealth is a core domain of emergency medicine (EM) and is inclusive of remotely providing acute medical care. In 2016, the American Medical Association Council on Medical Education released a report advocating for the implementation of formalized telehealth training into graduate medical education accreditation requirements. There was rapid growth in telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic: An industry analysis showed overall telehealth utilization grew 38 times from February 2020 to February 2021. Despite this, training in telehealth for residents remains substandard, with experts calling for formal curricula. To our knowledge there is no standardized graduate medical education curriculum for telehealth.
Objective: To assess EM resident enthusiasm for a telehealth curriculum and to develop a series of telehealth training modules for EM resident physicians.
Curricular Design: We distributed a ten question survey to 44 EM residents to gauge their interest in pursuing telehealth education. We developed a series of 30 minute modules focused on different aspects of telehealth delivery targeted to an audience of EM residents. We created four key telehealth learning modules to train EM residents: Historical Socioeconomic Relevance, The Virtual Patient Encounter, The Telehealth Physical Exam, and Documentation Medicolegal Implications.
Impact/Effectiveness: The vast majority of survey respondents feel that telehealth education is probably or definitely important, and would pursue education in telehealth. Future directions include soliciting feedback from residents who complete the curriculum and learning assessment. As telehealth continues its rapid growth beyond a protracted pandemic it is critical that we educate and equip the next generation of emergency physicians to harness the skills to provide emergency telehealth services to their patients.