Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34368454›Full record

ArticleJournal of medical education and curricular development

Medical Students and Patients Benefit from Virtual Non-Medical Interactions Due to COVID-19.

Taylor M Coe, Trevor J McBroom, Sarah A Brownlee, Karen Regan, Stephen Bartels, Noelle Saillant, Heidi Yeh, Emil Petrusa, Leigh Anne Dageforde

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Article in Journal of medical education and curricular development. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Observational
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Advances in Developing Medical Students' 'Web-side Manner'.Journal of medical education and curricular development
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Taylor M CoeDepartment of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3514-6993
Trevor J McBroomHarvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Sarah A BrownleeDepartment of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Karen ReganTransplant Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Stephen BartelsHarvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Noelle SaillantDepartment of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Heidi YehDepartment of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Emil PetrusaDepartment of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Leigh Anne DagefordeDepartment of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPatient care restrictions created by the COVID-19 pandemic constrained medical students' ability to interact directly with patients. Additionally, organ transplant recipients faced increasing isolation due to the rise of telemedicine, the importance of social distancing and their immunosuppressed state. We created a pilot program to pair students with transplant patients for structured, virtual encounters and studied its impact on medical students and patients.

methodsIn May 2020, medical students conducted virtual visits with patients via telephone or video conferencing. Patients and students were surveyed regarding their experiences and independent focus groups were conducted. The survey responses and focus group discussions were deidentified, transcribed, and analyzed for themes.

resultsTen participating students were in their first, second, or final year of medical school. The 14 patients were liver or kidney transplant recipients or kidney donors. All interactions lasted longer than 30 minutes, with 56% greater than 1 hour. Three themes emerged related to the student experience: improvement of their clinical communication skills, development of knowledge and attitudes related to organ transplantation and donation, and independent management of a patient encounter. Three themes related to the patient experience: appreciation of the opportunity to share their personal patient experience to help educate future physicians, a cathartic and personally illuminating experience and an opportunity to share the message of donation.

conclusionsThis pilot program provided a novel opportunity for virtual student-patient interactions that was feasible, well-received, and mutually beneficial. The use of virtual non-medical patient experiences allowed for experiential learning during which students learned about both clinical medicine and enhanced their communication skills directly from patients. Additionally, patients were able to engage with medical students in a new way, as teachers of clinical interactions, and reported a high level of satisfaction in addition to deriving personal benefit.

Indexed as

COVID-19organ donationpatient teachertransplant surgeryVirtual patient experience

Identifiers

PMID34368454
PMCPMC8299878

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.