Implementing a Telemedicine Curriculum for Internal Medicine Residents during a Pandemic: The Cleveland Clinic Experience

Savage, D. J.; Gutierrez, O.; Montane, B. E.; Singh, A. D.; Yudelevich, E.; Mahar, J.; Brateanu, A.; Khatri, L.; Fleisher, C.; Jolly, S.

Introduction Telemedicine is an important element of healthcare. However, until the COVID-19 pandemic, training in telemedicine was not a substantial element of most residency programs. Social distancing measures changed this. The Cleveland Clinic Internal Medicine Residency Program (IMRP) is one of the largest programs in the United States, which made the task of developing and adopting an effective, expedited telemedicine curriculum challenging. Our goal was to implement a system for teaching telemedicine care skills and supervising the care provided by residents during virtual visits. Study Design This study was started in April 2020. We developed and implemented a resident-led curriculum and training program for providing telemedicine care in less than five weeks. This entailed creating a formal training program for residents, creating a resource guide for the different video communication tools, and training preceptors to safely supervise care in this new paradigm. We also created an assessment instrument in our education evaluation system that allows residents to receive feedback on their performance during virtual appointments. Results Over 2000 virtual visits were performed by residents in a span of 10 weeks. Of 148 residents, 38% responded to the pre-participation survey. A majority had no prior telemedicine experience and expressed only slight comfort with the modality. Discussion Through collaboration with experienced residents and faculty, we expeditiously developed an enhancement to our ambulatory care curriculum to teach residents how to provide virtual care and help faculty with supervision. We share our insights on this experience for other residency programs to utilize.