Teaching webside manner: development and initial evaluation of a video consultation skills training module for undergraduate medical students

Abstract

Background: Video consultations are increasingly used to communicate with patients, particularly during the current COVID-19 pandemic. However, training in video consultation skills receives scant attention in the literature. We sought to introduce this important topic to our undergraduate medical school curriculum. Objective: To increase final year medical students' video consultation skills and knowledge. Methods: We used Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) quality improvement methodology with a prepost study design to develop a teaching session for 5th year medical students, informed by a literature review and online clinician survey. The 2 hour session comprised an introduction and three practical stations: patient selection and ethics, technology and example videos, and simulation. Subjective pre-and post-session confidence was reported by students across seven domains using 5-point scales (1: not at all confident; 5: extremely confident). Students and facilitators completed post-session feedback forms. Results: The 40 students and 3 facilitators who attended, over two separate teaching sessions, provided unanimously positive feedback. All students considered the session relevant. Subjective confidence ratings (n = 34) significantly increased from pre-to post-session (mean increase 1.78, p < 0.001). Conclusions: The inaugural teaching session was well-received and subjective assessment measures showed improvement in taught skills. This pilot has informed a UK-wide multicentre study with subjective and objective data collection.

Developing as health professionals through community volunteering: exploring the value of a partnership between medical students and primary schools online compared to in-person

“…Therefore, there are some unique skills acquisition opportunities offered only by online volunteering. Most ICSM-TBH volunteers are in earlier years of medical school; it would be valuable to understand how medical students who have had to practice remote consulting as part of their placement would perceive this difference, especially with increasing body of literature exploring methods to support medical students in developing confidence in this new skill [ 29 , 30 ].…”

Future of Surgery: Technology Enhanced Surgical Training: Report of the FOS:TEST Commission

“…Most guidance on the use of such systems and setting up a remote consultation service has come from primary care, and training in video consultation skills has been adopted in some medical school curricula. [34][35][36][37][38] In surgery, there remains no guidance on how to train in such circumstances, which, owing to the shift in secondary care to remote consultation, may result in further lost training opportunities. This is especially important given the curriculum capability in practice (CiP) of a trainee's ability to manage an outpatient clinic.…”

Good for patients but not learners? Exploring faculty and learner virtual care integration

“…4,[27][28][29] Novel ways of involving displaced medical students in virtual patient care were also described. [30][31][32][33][34] Fewer publications involving postgraduate VC integration were found, likely because residents and fellows continued working through the pandemic rather than being removed from care as was the case for medical students in some countries. Nonetheless, innovations in both VC teaching and assessment have been described at the residency level in recent work.…”

“…Reports on undergraduate VC curricular development were published 4,27–29 . Novel ways of involving displaced medical students in virtual patient care were also described 30–34 . Fewer publications involving postgraduate VC integration were found, likely because residents and fellows continued working through the pandemic rather than being removed from care as was the case for medical students in some countries.…”