Purpose
The Remote Human Interactions for Tele-Health Mentorship (Rhithm) project assesses the use of video conferencing and recording as a training method for third year medical students during psychiatric clerkship for improved knowledge of and confidence providing care by telemental health. Through telemental health sessions, students develop necessary clinical skills to conduct Psychiatric Diagnostic Interviews. Faculty instructors (mentors) assessing students’ skills through recorded telemental health sessions assist in the facilitation of a shared learning experience through group feedback to medical students.
Overview
During psychiatric rounds at the Southern Medical Campus (UBC-O) Kelowna General Hospital, third year medical students will be invited to perform two recorded telemental health assessments on a standardized patient. Throughout the first assessment, the faculty instructor will be present in the room with the student. The students’ peers, remotely and privately observing the session are provided a copy of the recorded telemental health assessment for a group debrief with the faculty instructor. A second recorded telemental health assessment occurs without instructor or peer supervision, and separately reviewed by the faculty instructor through the Collaborative Lecture Annotation System (CLAS).
With increasing experience and mentorship, students prepare for leadership and participatory roles in telemental health sessions, thereby demonstrating the applicability of the method for supporting students towards attaining UBC Medical School’s core competencies.
Highlights
We began piloting the program in Sep 2013 and will continue until Aug 2014, during which we will collect feedback from the students about their experiences with using video conference for psychiatric interviews and CLAS for feedback.
Funder
Project funding gratefully received from The Colin & Lois Pritchard Foundation.
Investigators
Dr. Kendall Ho Co-Principal Investigator
Dr. Neil Hanon Co-Principal Investigator