“Who’s watching?”: Exploring patients’ acceptance of having their consultations livestreamed for educational purposes

Abstract

Shortages of clinical placements are an ever-increasing global challenge. Livestreaming clinical experiences to remotely-located learners shows promise in addressing this challenge. However, little is known about the acceptability of livestreamed clinical experiences for patients. Understanding patient views is critical to determine feasibility of this method of delivering clinical experience. This study reports on the experiences of 11 patients who participated in a livestreamed clinical experience in general practices in Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Up to five remotely-located medical students participated in each consultation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed using thematic analysis. Findings suggest that a livestreamed clinical experience did not impact patients’ experience of their consultation, including willingness to withdraw from the consultation. Smartglasses worn by clinicians did not impede patient-clinician interaction, likely because they did not obstruct eye contact. Patient views varied as to whether or not they preferred to see students on the computer screen during the consultation, raising potential tensions between student learning needs and patient preference. Most patients had no preference as to whether students participated remotely or in person. These findings show promise in terms of patient acceptability but further research evaluating patient perspectives in greater numbers and in other clinical contexts is important.