Physicians-in-training are not extensively offered a proper, formal training in telemedicine. To deal with that, the American Medical Association recently announced a policy that aims to ensure that medical students and residents are trained to use telemedicine in medical practice.
AMA recommends that graduate and undergraduate medical education should include core competencies for telemedicine in their regular programs. The new policy also supports the current AMA policy that aims to reduce the barriers to include proper use of telemedicine in physician education.
Robert M. Wah, AMA Immediate Past President, said that, “The vast majority of medical students are not being taught how to use technologies such as telemedicine or electronic health records during medical school and residency. As innovation in care delivery and technology continue to transform healthcare, we must ensure that our current and future physicians have the tools and resources they need to provide the best possible care for their patients.”
“In particular, exposure to and evidence-based instruction in telemedicine’s capabilities and limitations at all levels of physician education will be essential to harnessing its potential,” Wah added.
AMA is currently working with 32 of the leading medical schools in the country, which, as a part of the Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium, aim to include latest technologies in healthcare to assist future physicians to work in a continually changing healthcare environment and provide better services. The Accelerating Change in Medical Education initiative was launched by AMA in 2013 in order to reduce the gap between training of medical students and the actual practice of healthcare service.
Now several schools are implementing and developing projects on modern technology. For example, the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences is making use of advanced simulation and telemedicine technologies that would help students to develop skills to provide better care to remote and rural communities; where Indiana University School of Medicine made a teaching EHR with de-identified data to make sure that medical students can access patient records in a much hassle-free manner during their medical training.
AMA has also issued $12.5 million grants to the 32 medical schools in order to generate innovative curriculum that can be used in medical schools all across the United States.