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

Area of Science:

• Complementary Medicine
• Health Professions Education
• Digital Health

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated rapid adoption of telehealth in clinical education.
• Complementary Medicine (CM) training programs faced challenges in adapting to virtual patient care models.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a multi-centered, student-led CM telehealth clinic.
• To explore student and educator perceptions of learning and teaching within this telehealth setting.

Main Methods:

• A survey utilizing Likert scale and qualitative responses was administered to students and educators.
• Data collected from 51 students and 17 educators at a multi-centered Australian University CM clinic.

Main Results:

• Over 90% supported telehealth, but 87% faced technical/infrastructure barriers.
• Significant improvements noted in telehealth skills for case history taking (90%), treatment planning (90%), and patient rapport (60%).
• Physical examination was perceived as less effective (61% disagreement), yet 100% found telehealth a valuable learning experience.

Conclusions:

• Successful telehealth clinics require digital literacy and adequate infrastructure for both students and educators.
• Curricula must be adapted to specifically teach virtual counselling and physical examination skills.
• Telehealth in clinical education warrants further investigation and development.