Virtual clinic visits/telemedicine proficiency
Telehealth and virtual care are rapidly being integrated into most
modern health care systems, a change that has been occurring even prior
to the current pandemic (Deldar, Bahaadinbeigy, & Tara, 2016). Within
head and neck surgery, there is potential for telemedicine to replace a
significant proportion of in-person office visits (McCool & Davies,
2018) (Rimmer et al., 2018).
Proficiency in use of telemedicine is therefore an increasingly
important competency for all trainees. Fellowship directors can consider
the current circumstances an opportunity to include mastery of
telemedicine as an important learning objective. In our survey, only
26% of fellows reported participating in virtual clinics. Given that
the majority of fellow-run clinics have been cancelled, consideration
should be made to replace these with virtual clinics. This would provide
exposure to this important aspect of clinical practice and allow fellows
to continue with real-time education in counseling, decision-making and
systems-based practice.
This technology, however, is not without its limitations and pitfalls.
Creating clear sets of guidelines for use of this technology will
continue to add to its potential benefit and may serve as the foundation
for post-crisis use of telemedicine (Aman Prasad, 2020)