[Could a resident be a remote infectious disease specialist consultant? The Lille teaching hospital experience]

Infectious diseases specialist consultants are usually senior physicians. At the Lille University Hospital, it was decided to associate an infectious disease (ID) resident to this remote infectious disease activity to improve his training in this field. He visited the emergency department daily, participated in weekly multidisciplinary meetings with medical staff, and was in first line to answer the phone which is the usual means for hospital doctors to ask specific questions. It was a very instructive experience for an ID resident because of the diversity of clinical cases in other departments and he often had to refer to medical literature. However, being a remote consultant could be difficult for an ID resident. He might be less well considered than a senior physician by the other specialists. To conclude, a remote infectious disease consultant can be an ID resident if he is experienced and supervised by a senior physician.