Virtual care is the clinical use of internet, satellite and telephone communication technology - a process reshaping healthcare. The creative use of new tools and technologies is bridging distance and allowing the delivery of new combinations of care and expertise. Thoughtfully constructed and delivered, these new care paradigms will more efficiently meet patient needs, improve outcome and break down barriers to care. Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM) clinicians are national leaders in the arena of academic medical centers, having developed a large number of virtual clinical service lines and conducted a large number of telemedicine visits. As Weill Cornell’s telemedicine practice has grown, it has become clear that we will best succeed if education and training are provided for all health care professionals engaged in virtual care.
Essential training includes understanding the importance of the “soft” skill set required to conduct telemedicine visits with a camera, as well as ensuring that providers at all levels are aware of technical and medicolegal standards. To respond to this need, the Weill Cornell Emergency Medicine Center for Virtual Care (CVC) was launched, to improve the delivery of virtual care services across the health system. CVC educators provide basic telemedicine training including: “web-side” manner, remote patient examination skills, modality-specific decision-making and other essentials to conduct successful virtual care. Appreciation of these essential telemedicine elements yields benefits for both providers and institutions by increasing care proficiency as well as awareness of potential risk.
Virtual care advancements, implemented with rigorous study and evaluation, increase access, improve outcomes, reduce costs and improve clinician and patient experiences. These changes are altering the business and consumer environment of medicine and this new landscape requires new health care provider competencies. CVC training correlates with Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) core competencies and telemedicine training is also recommended by the American Medical Association (AMA) for all medical students; to meet this recommendation, virtual care training is required for all Weill Cornell Medicine students.
The CVC provides a unified location in midtown Manhattan for undergraduate and graduate medical education and telemedicine workforce training for providers from across the health care continuum. Our instructors promote unified standards of care, with training led by virtual care experts drawn from specialties with active telemedicine services including emergency medicine, neurology, pediatrics, primary care and psychiatry.
CVC educators offer in-person and remote training sessions for health care institutions throughout the United States. Training elements, including program duration and curriculum specifics, can be customized for individual groups to best meet participants needs. Training is recommended for health care providers at all levels, including care managers, medical students, graduate staff members, advanced practice providers and attending physicians. Virtual medicine competency training ensures that clinicians are comfortable providing care in virtual space, following best telemedicine practices and operating in alignment with legal and regulatory guidelines, as this new method of health care continues to evolve rapidly and transform the industry as a whole.
CVC telemedicine training is offered through various modules, including a “flipped” classroom, experiential learning and a remote refresher.
One-Hour Online Module - Hardware Requirements, Legal/Regulatory, Framing/Staging, Safety Protocols
Fifteen-Minute Standard Patient Encounter
Interactive Session with Simulation
Standardized Patient Encounters and Debriefing Sessions
Advanced Communications Skills, Modality-Specific Decision-Making, On-Camera Professionalism
Virtual Refresher Session Tailored to Learner Needs
To learn more, register for training or support our efforts, contact:
David Leyden
CVC Administrative Director
(646) 962-8012
dal2061@med.cornell.edu
David G. Leyden, C.R.A., MPA
Administrative Director
(646) 962-8012
dal2061@med.cornell.edu
Rahul Sharma, M.D., MBA
Chair
(212) 746-2819
ras2022@med.cornell.edu
Peter Greenwald, M.D., M.S.
Telemedicine Director
(212) 746-5026
peg9002@med.cornell.edu
Neel Naik, M.D.
Simulation Education Director
(212) 746-5454
nen9010@med.cornell.edu
Emergency Medicine Department
Weill Cornell Medical Center
525 E. 68th St., Box 179
New York, NY 10065
525 E. 68th St., M-130
New York, NY 10065
(212) 746-0780
530 E. 70th St., M-124c
New York, NY 10021
(212) 746-0892
mer9074@med.cornell.edu
