While medication reconciliation is necessary to reduce errors, it is often challenging to gather an accurate history in the clinic. Telemedicine offers a relative advantage over clinic and hospital-based interviews by enabling the clinician to inspect the home environment, review pill bottles, and identify social determinants affecting adherence, such as financial instability. To be effective, however, clinicians must be trained in best-practice interview methods and the proper use of telemedicine. There is very little information in the literature describing the best strategies for teaching students or measuring competencies in telemedicine. Therefore, we created an educational module with a telemedicine simulation and an evaluation rubric. We piloted this module with 48 medical and physician assistant students. Most students could complete a virtual interview and gather a medication history. However, only half identified an over-the-counter medication missing from the list. Most students were either entrustable or approaching entrustment in the six telemedicine competencies measured in this simulation. This simulation is valuable for teaching students about medication reconciliation, using telemedicine to close gaps in access to care, and identifying health-related social needs affecting medication adherence.
Keywords: Telemedicine; medical education; medication reconciliation; simulation; social determinants of health.