Virtual Supervision in a Family Medicine Residency Program: Lessons from the Early Stages of a Pandemic!

ABSTRACT

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. The landscape of postgraduate education in a family medicine residency changed abruptly with the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. The early weeks and months of the pandemic have highlighted some short-fallings in virtual supervision that were not anticipated based upon our previous ways of teaching. In order to support the essential components of family medicine postgraduate teaching, curricular and program structural changes are required (which will likely translate into further iterative improvements). This opinion piece highlights some early changes in our large Canadian Family Medicine Residency Program, combining our early reflections on virtual supervision, the practicalities of on-the-ground teaching, and the existing concepts from the literature supporting effective medical teaching.