Virtual Care and Virtual Medical Education: A Canadian Medical Student Perspective

Abstract

  Background: The COVID-19 pandemic had accelerated the adoption of virtual care as an extension of routine clinical practice. In addition, pre-clinical undergraduate medical education was affected by the transition to both synchronous and asynchronous online learning. The objective of this study was to assess the current experience and knowledge of medical students with regards to virtual care. A secondary objective was to identify opportunities for improvement in the undergraduate medical curriculum. Methods: An electronic survey was distributed to undergraduate medical students in Canadian medical schools. Main sections of the survey addressed experience with virtual care encounters and perceived impact of virtual learning on medical education. Result: Out of our 53 respondents, the majority (80%) of medical students perceived high educational importance of virtual care encounters. 91% of the students recognized the developing role of virtual care in current and future medical practices. 55% of the surveyed showed readiness to conduct virtual care in the current curriculum. 94% of the responses stated the preferred feedback method for clinical learning was immediate faculty assessment following the encounter. Discussion: The results from this study provided insight on the medical learner’s experience while navigating virtual care and identified areas of improvements at an institutional level. Effective medical training that integrates the advantages of virtual care is crucial.