Integrating telemedicine instruction into the curriculum: expanding student perspectives of the scope of clinical practice

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.