Kong Steve S, Azarfar Azin, Ashour Amnie, Atkins Christopher, Bhanusali Neha
Medicine, University of Central Florida College of Medicine, Orlando, USA.
Internal Medicine, University of Central Florida College of Medicine, Orlando, USA.
Cureus. 2020 Nov 19;12(11):e11574. doi: 10.7759/cureus.11574.
Telemedicine (TM) or telehealth is defined as the delivery of healthcare services at a distance using electronic means. It is a rapidly growing field of medicine that uses telecommunication to provide healthcare services to patients such as the elderly and those in rural locations who may otherwise be unable to make it to the hospital or physician's office. With the rise in the popularity of TM, educating future physicians on this technology will become vital. This study aimed to explore medical students' experiences and opinions regarding TM.
An online survey was sent to 287 medical students in 20 different allopathic medical schools in the United States. The survey consisted of 14 questions that included demographic information, information regarding TM exposure, interest in TM, and plans for future utilization.
The result of this study indicated that only 17.4% of medical students had prior exposure to TM. However, the increased exposure to TM helped not only to increase awareness of the technology but also helped students form opinions on TM. Lastly, students in all intended specialties had interests in utilizing TM in the future with specialties such as pathology, psychiatry, ophthalmology, and dermatology indicating the highest levels of interest.
As medicine continues to incorporate technology into the care of patients, training institutions need to expose future physicians to the modalities of care they will be utilizing. The results of this survey suggest that the development of education and exposure to TM will become increasingly important as more medical students indicate interest in utilizing this technology.
远程医疗（TM）或远程健康被定义为使用电子手段远程提供医疗服务。它是一个快速发展的医学领域，利用电信为患者提供医疗服务，比如为老年人以及那些身处农村地区、否则可能无法前往医院或医生办公室的人提供服务。随着远程医疗的日益普及，让未来的医生了解这项技术将变得至关重要。本研究旨在探讨医学生对远程医疗的体验和看法。
向美国20所不同的全科医学院的287名医学生发送了一份在线调查问卷。该问卷包含14个问题，涵盖人口统计学信息、远程医疗接触情况、对远程医疗的兴趣以及未来使用计划等方面。
本研究结果表明，只有17.4%的医学生此前接触过远程医疗。然而，对远程医疗接触的增加不仅有助于提高对该技术的认识，还帮助学生形成了对远程医疗的看法。最后，所有意向专业的学生都对未来使用远程医疗感兴趣，其中病理学、精神病学、眼科和皮肤科等专业的兴趣最高。
随着医学不断将技术融入患者护理中，培训机构需要让未来的医生接触他们将使用的护理模式。本次调查结果表明，随着越来越多的医学生表示有兴趣使用这项技术，开展远程医疗教育和让学生接触远程医疗将变得越来越重要。
