Medical Student Patient Outreach to Ensure Continuity of Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Yale New Haven Health System began rescheduling nonurgent outpatient appointments as virtual visits in March 2020. While Yale New Haven Health expanded its telemedicine infrastructure to accommodate this shift, many appointments were delayed and patients faced considerable uncertainty.

Objective

Medical students created the Medical Student Task Force (MSTF) to help ensure continuity of care by calling patients whose appointments were delayed during this transition to telemedicine.

Methods

Eighty-five student volunteers called 3765 internal medicine patients with canceled appointments, completing screening for 2197 patients. Volunteers screened for health care needs, assessed preferences for future appointments, and

SUBMITTER: Belzer A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9049823 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature