Telemedicine as a pedagogical resource in the development of clinical skills in medical students
Keywords:
clinical diagnosis, curriculum, distance education, medical students, telemedicineAbstract
Introduction: the development of clinical skills in medical students faces challenges in distance education contexts.
Objective: to evaluate the effectiveness of telemedicine as a pedagogical resource in the development of clinical skills in medical students.
Methods: a mixed, sequential explanatory design was employed. The quantitative phase consisted of a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest study involving 148 third-year students from the University of Medical Sciences of Sancti Spíritus, with an intervention comprising five weekly online sessions based on clinical cases, assessed using a 20-item rubric (Likert scale 1–5). The qualitative phase was carried out with a subsample of 25 students and five faculty members as key informants, through in-depth interviews and focus groups to explore perceptions of the intervention. Paired-sample t-tests, effect sizes (Cohen’s d), and 95 % confidence intervals were calculated. Additionally, a 10-item satisfaction questionnaire was administered.
Results: overall scores increased from 3.10 ± 0.52 to 4.22 ± 0.43 (Δ = 1.12; t(147) = 28.67; d = 1.60; p < 0.001). The percentage of students achieving a score ≥ 4 points rose from 12.16% to 78.38% (χ² = 112.3; p < 0.001). Overall satisfaction was high (mean ≥ 4.48/5). Qualitative analysis identified three main themes: appreciation of immediate feedback, the clinical relevance of the cases, and the suggestion to incorporate simulations with standardized patients.
Conclusions: telemedicine proved to be effective and highly accepted, providing local evidence to support its curricular integration in medical sciences.
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