CURRICULUM

Telemedicine Curriculum and Training Modules for Family Medicine

Use STFM's Telemedicine Curriculum to give your learners the knowledge and skills they need to conduct effective, patient-centered telemedicine visits. This curriculum is free for STFM members and includes five online training modules for residents and students. Log in to your STFM member account halfway down this page to gain access to the telemedicine training modules.

STFM Telemedicine Curriculum Learning Objectives Mapped to AAMC Telehealth Competencies (PDF) JOIN STFM TO ACCESS

Give your residents and students the knowledge and skills they need to conduct effective, patient-centered telemedicine visits. Resources include guidance to help teaching clinicians integrate telemedicine topics into courses, clerkships, residency curricula, and national telemedicine curriculum for students and family medicine residents.STFM membership is free for students. Join now to gain access to the modules.Each online module takes approximately 15–45 minutes to complete. The telemedicine curriculum is divided into five asynchronous modules:

Module 1: Intro to Telehealth
Module 2: The Telehealth Encounter
Module 3: Requirements for Telehealth
Module 4: Access and Equity in Telehealth
Module 5: Future of Telehealth

Note for Residency Curriculum Resource Subscribers

Residency Faculty: The telemedicine curriculum is now included in the Family Medicine Residency Curriculum Resource. If you're a subscriber, you can access this curriculum and offer it to your residents at no extra cost. Access the curriculum through your Residency Curriculum Resource subscription.

These online training modules as part of the STFM Telemedicine Curriculum are available for free to STFM members. Log in using the button link below. After you log in, this page will automatically reload. Scroll to this spot to find links to the five modules.

Click on the tabs below to learn more about each module.

Online Training Modules and Aggregated Curriculum Resources

Module 1: Intro to Telehealth

Module 2: The Telehealth Encounter

Module 3: Requirements for Telehealth

Module 4: Access and Equity in Telehealth

Module 5: Future of Telehealth

Resources and Guidance for Teaching Clinicians

Module 1: Intro to Telehealth

Learning Objectives

After completing this module, learners will be able to:

Describe the appropriate uses of telehealth
Discuss the benefits and limitations of telehealth
Identify factors that impact patient and practice barriers to incorporating telehealth into care
Explain the roles and responsibilities of team members in telehealth encounters

Module 2: The Telehealth Encounter

Learning Objectives

During this module, you'll learn to:

Establish a therapeutic environment and develop effective rapport with patients
Obtain a history and conduct an appropriate physical examination via telehealth
Incorporate information from the patient's surroundings into the clinical assessment
Apply appropriate medical decision-making in the context of providing care at a distance, including escalating care when necessary
Complete documentation for telehealth encounters that meets requirements based on modality, payer, and practice

Module 3: Requirements for Telehealth

Learning Objectives

After completing this module, you’ll be able to:

Describe the basic technology requirements to conduct a telehealth encounter
Resolve common telehealth technical issues
List documentation requirements for a telehealth encounter
Identify key elements of an effective telehealth work environment

Module 4: Access and Equity in Telehealth

Learning Objectives

During this module, you will learn:

How telehealth can affect health equity and mitigate or amplify socioeconomic gaps in access to care
How to assess and accommodate patients’ needs, preferences, and potential cultural, social, physical, cognitive, and linguistic/communication barriers to technology use
How to apply the appropriate use of telehealth to effectively deliver care for special populations (e.g. child/adolescent, geriatric patients with dementia or in a nursing home, patients at risk for intimate partner violence, LGBTQI, incarcerated patients, mental health care)
How telehealth can improve access to care for special use cases such as natural disasters or a public health crisis, such as a pandemic

Module 5: Future of Telehealth

Learning Objectives

After completing this module, the learner will be able to:

Describe the current trends in telemedicine with regards to delivery models and new technologies
Describe the types of technological innovations that may impact telemedicine in the future, including artificial intelligence
Discuss methods of data acquisition
Describe methods of interpreting healthcare data and subsequent utilization of this data

Resources and Guidance for Teaching Clinicians

Competencies

Teaching Guidance

Supplemental Resources

Aggregated Curriculum from Other Organizations

Texas Academy of Family Physicians Primer on Telehealth (free; requires account)
Developing a Telemedicine Curriculum for a Family Medicine Residency
Stanford Medicine Videovisits: Problem-Based Approach to the Provider-Directed Patient Self-Exam (YouTube)
Stanford CME: The Tele-Presence 5 Practices (YouTube)
ODU Telehealth Physical Exam Training Videos for Students and Providers (YouTube)
American Headache Society: Conducting a Telemedicine Neurologic Exam (YouTube)

Development of the Modules

STFM developed the Telemedicine Curriculum by conducting a national study involving 15 medical schools and 15 family medicine residency programs to review and provide feedback of the modules. The American Academy of Family Physicians Institutional Review Board reviewed and approved this study.Development of these modules was supported, in part, by Pacific Northwest University College of Osteopathic Medicine.

STFM Telemedicine Curriculum Task Force Members

Chair

Steven Lin, MD, Vice Chief, Technology Innovation, Executive Director, Stanford Healthcare AI Applied Research Team, Stanford University School of Medicine

Members

Rika Bajra, MD, Stanford University School of Medicine, Associate Director, Core Clerkship in Family and Community Medicine
Tom Banning, CEO and Executive Vice President, Texas Academy of Family Physicians
Lance Fuchs, MD, Program Director, Kaiser Permanente San Diego Family Medicine Residency
Kevin Galpin, MD, Executive Director, Telehealth Services Office of Connected Care, Veterans Health Administration at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Brett Johnson, MD, Program Director, Methodist Health System Family Practice Residency Program, Dallas, TX
Bonnie Jortberg, PhD, RD, CDE, Associate Professor, Department of Family Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine
John Moore, DO, Chair of Family Medicine, Pacific Northwest University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Yakima, WA
Mahesh Patel, MD, Assistant Professor, Director of Telemedicine, University of Illinois
Kerry Palakanis, DNP, APRN, Executive Director, Connect Care Operations
David Rakel, MD, Professor and Department Chair, University of New Mexico School of Medicine
Scott Shipman, MD, Director of Clinical Innovations/Director of Primary Care Initiatives, Association of American Medical Colleges
Duane Teerink, DO, Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, Pacific Northwest University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Yakima, WA
Steve Waldren, MD, VP and Chief Medical Informatics Officer, American Academy of Family Physicians

Staff Lead

Mary Theobald, Chief of Strategy and Innovation, Society of Teachers of Family Medicine

Questions?

If you have technical questions about the Telemedicine Curriculum online modules, contact Brian Hischier, manager of online education, at (913) 800-5198 or the email link below.

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Telemedicine Curriculum and Training Modules for Family Medicine

Note for Residency Curriculum Resource Subscribers

Online Training Modules and Aggregated Curriculum Resources

Module 1: Intro to Telehealth

Learning Objectives

Module 2: The Telehealth Encounter

Learning Objectives

Module 3: Requirements for Telehealth

Learning Objectives

Module 4: Access and Equity in Telehealth

Learning Objectives

Module 5: Future of Telehealth

Learning Objectives

Resources and Guidance for Teaching Clinicians

Competencies

Teaching Guidance

Supplemental Resources

Aggregated Curriculum from Other Organizations

Development of the Modules

STFM Telemedicine Curriculum Task Force Members

Chair

Members

Staff Lead

Questions?

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