A complementary medicine student-led telehealth clinic: evaluating learning & teaching perceptions

TL;DR

This study explores how complementary medicine students and educators perceive a student-led telehealth clinic during the pandemic, highlighting the benefits and challenges of virtual learning.

Contribution

The study is the first to evaluate student and educator perceptions of telehealth in a multi-centered complementary medicine clinic in an Australian university setting.

Findings

Over 90% of respondents supported telehealth in student-led clinics and found it valuable for learning.

Students improved in case history taking and treatment skills but struggled with virtual physical examinations.

Educators and students faced technical barriers but agreed that digital literacy and infrastructure are essential for telehealth success.

Abstract

This study evaluates a multi-centered complementary medicine (CM) student-led telehealth clinic during the COVID-19 pandemic. Likert and qualitative responses explore student and educator learning and teaching perceptions of the implementation of a successful telehealth clinic.

51 students and 17 educators completed the survey. Respondents agreed that support from educators (90%) and orientation (70%) assisted effective performance. Over 90% (93%) of all respondents supported telehealth in student-led clinics, whilst 87% encountered barriers such as technical and infrastructure issues. Respondents agreed that telehealth practice skills improved in case history taking (90%), treatment (90%) and building patient rapport (60%). Respondents (61%) disagreed that physical examination was effectively performed, and 100% of respondents agreed telehealth was a valuable learning experience. This study is the first to explore student and educator perceptions of telehealth in an Australian University multi-centered CM student-led clinic. To be successful in an educational environment, students and educators require digital literacy and adequate telehealth practice infrastructure. Whilst some in-person practice skills are transferable to telehealth, educators need to adapt curriculum to ensure counselling and physical examination skills are specifically taught for virtual consultations. Telehealth in clinical practice requires continued investigation and educational development.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13104-024-06728-5.

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