Pivoting to Online Clinician Training in Adolescent Health Care
Almost everyone around the world has been impacted by COVID-19 in one way or another. Here at the University of Minnesota, faculty and staff are working from home, and students are quickly adjusting to online learning platforms. YouthCHAT, a program that trains pediatric residents and nurse practitioner students in clinical interviewing with adolescents, has quickly and successfully pivoted to a new, virtual platform. Surprisingly, both trainees and YouthCHAT actors are praising the new teaching strategy.
Housed in the Department of Pediatrics and led by Drs. Jenny Oliphant and Nimi Singh, YouthCHAT is comprised of diverse youth who have been trained to role-play health care scenarios with pediatric residents and nurse practitioner students. At the conclusion of mock clinical interviews, YouthCHAT actors provide constructive feedback to the residents and nurse practitioner students about the simulation. This carefully crafted interaction allows residents and nurse practitioner students the opportunity to become comfortable working with adolescents and to receive critical feedback on how the interaction went, better preparing them for situations they may encounter in their professional careers.
With the sudden shift in teaching and learning modes due to COVID-19, Oliphant had to make a quick decision about how to continue providing this required education when in-person role plays were no longer an option. She decided to shift this in-person training to an online video platform. Both youth teachers (YouthCHAT actors) and learners (residents and nurse practitioner students) embraced the change, challenge, and opportunities that virtual training provided.
“The change to an online platform provided an additional training bonus,” stated Oliphant. Using Zoom to mimic real-world telehealth interactions, trainees had the opportunity for practice and feedback in a virtual environment, a venue where most had never before provided care.
Shifting to an online platform, Oliphant was concerned that some of the emotions emitted from difficult or sensitive topics wouldn’t be as real in a virtual environment. Oliphant remarked that, to her surprise, the acting via Zoom didn’t change the impact of learning. "The scenarios still evoked emotions for our trainees and still feel very real to them," she said.
Going forward, this YouthCHAT actor/trainee session taught by Oliphant may continue to be offered online. “In addition to achieving our learning outcomes, holding these training sessions online provides our youth actors with more flexibility,” said Oliphant. “Allowing our actors to Zoom in from any location not only increases their availability, but it allows them to participate from all over the world. It also better prepares our residents and nurse practitioner students to utilize telehealth methods in practice.” Across the U.S., telehealth has become an increasingly prevalent approach to providing adolescent health services the face of COVID-19.