The U.S. physician shortage is in the public spotlight given the COVID-19public health crisis. However, the medical education system responsible for bolstering our ranks of physicians has ground to a standstill. Both international and U.S. medical students need clinical experiences to match into a U.S. residency program—the first training job any doctor must complete—to join the physician workforce and the fight against COVID-19. It was already projected pre-COVID-19  to be short 120,000+physicians by 2032. Unfortunately, hospitals have shut down their clinical experience programs in order to focus on fighting the virus, creating a bottleneck in the medical education system.

Further, as a result of COVID-19, many international medical students, a key piece of our primary care physician workforce, are currently unable to come to the U.S. to attend one of the limited clinical experience spots, whether that be as a direct result of the disease, an inability to obtain aU.S. visa with closed embassies, or country-based travel restrictions.

The answer to this gridlock is online telehealth clinical experiences.These rotations give trainees the experience, letter of recommendation, and education they need to meet residency program requirements and proceed in their career. AMOpportunities’ online telehealth clinical experience product and growing network of clinical sites, including ACGME teaching hospital sites, is the first telehealth learning experience of its kind.

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Online telehealth clinical experience is the answer.

“Providing the best U.S. clinical experiences to international medical trainees has been our mission since day one,” says Kyle Swinsky, CEO,AMOpportunities. “As soon as we saw the impact COVID-19 was having on these trainees, we knew we needed to do something. Online telehealth clinical experience is the answer. Trainees can now obtain the same experience they would in the U.S. from the comfort of their own home.”

AMOpportunities created two different types of online telehealth clinical experiences. The first allows trainees to attend video conference appointments and consultations that physicians conduct with their patients. The second type of experience allows trainees to work with physicians who use HD cameras to provide medical training while they see patients in person,  allowing participants to virtually be in the room and take part in grand rounds, lectures, diagnoses, creating treatment plans, and more. In both types of programs, trainees receive even more one-on-one time with a preceptor than they would in an in-person rotation, where they are often handed off to colleagues, NPs or PAs. This allows preceptors to develop an accurate gauge of a trainee’s skill, preparation, and drive—enabling them to write a detailed letter of recommendation that a trainee can use for their residency application requirements.

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AMOpportunities is a platform that connects healthcare trainees around the globe with U.S. clinical training experiences.

These experiences are hosted by physicians and residency programs in hospitals across the country, including Chicago, Boston, and Miami with professors from Harvard University, University of Illinois at Chicago, and University of Missouri, among others.

“Our team worked tirelessly to launch these programs, building out anew operational system and network of institutional partners with the capacity and drive to virtually train students,” says Ben Bradley, co-founder and COO. “I’m grateful to our partners for being so eager to innovate and for our team’s dedication. I’m excited to see the impact this will have on medical education for medical students in the U.S. and abroad.”