"I Have a Cough": An Interactive Virtual Respiratory Case-Based Module

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Digital Health
• Clinical Skills Training

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated rapid shifts in medical education, disrupting traditional in-person clinical training.
• There is a growing need for effective virtual learning alternatives to supplement or replace face-to-face clinical teaching.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a virtual resource for teaching the respiratory physical exam to preclinical medical students.
• To assess the effectiveness of an online interactive module in enhancing clinical skills and telemedicine communication.

Main Methods:

• An online interactive module was designed in three sections: virtual demonstration/practice of physical exam components, telemedicine encounters with standardized patients, and clinical reasoning case discussions.
• The module was implemented for 122 first-year medical students prior to their formal respiratory physical exam training.

Main Results:

• The virtual module was well-received by students, with high reported improvements in telemedicine communication (93%), physical exam interpretation (84%), differential diagnosis development (95%), and clinical/basic science correlation (93%).

Conclusions:

• Virtual instruction methods, like this online module, are effective tools for teaching foundational clinical skills in medical school.
• Digital learning resources provide a viable solution for remote instruction and can serve as a valuable supplement when in-person clinical teaching is limited.