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)