title: Integrating telemedicine instruction into the curriculum: expanding student perspectives of the scope of clinical practice.
abstract: We have developed a telemedicine elective for fourth-year medical students to learn about the delivery of primary care telemedicine. The goals were to expose medical students to telemedicine as a method for delivery of primary care and to reinforce the importance of doctor-patient communication during the health-care encounter. The elective lasted four weeks. It had three components: two online introductory courses to telemedicine; site visits to near and distant telemedicine sites; and a reflective writing paper. In the first year, seven medical students out of a class of 230 chose the telemedicine elective from a list of 188 alternatives. Evaluation ratings and the students' written comments, along with end-of-course discussions, indicated that the telemedicine elective was a valuable experience. An elective in the medical school curriculum may be a useful way of providing future physicians with an understanding of telemedicine.
authors.affiliation: Office of Educational Development, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas 77555-1123, USA. rjbulik@utmb.edu
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Bulik
authors.forename: Gurjeet S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Shokar
mesh_terms: D015510:Clinical Medicine / Q000193:education; D003142:Communication; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D003479:Curriculum; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011320:Primary Health Care; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology; D017216:Telemedicine