IDEA Series: Virtual “Faux-tation” Rotation for 4th Year Medical Students Interested in Emergency Medicine
Visiting clerkships have traditionally offered the opportunity for extended contact among medical student applicants and residency program representatives, allowing for enhanced assessment of mutual compatibility. Accordingly, visiting clerkships are consistently rated as an essential consideration among residency program leadership when reviewing applications, and among medical students, as they determine “fit” [1,2]. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in institutional restrictions on visiting clerkships. Despite the now limited opportunities for medical students to see residency programs of interest in-person, demand for these experiences remains high. Opportunities that allow for increased interaction among medical student applicants and residency programs that maintain compliance with COVID-19 restrictions are needed to fill this gap. Virtual rotations have previously been described in the literature in multiple other specialties [5]. Several emergency medicine programs have advertised a formal virtual rotation experience via the Council of Residency Directors’ (CORD) listserv that offers course credit to student rotators.