Preparing Future Clinicians for Virtual Visiting: A Qualitative Descriptive Study

Abstract BackgroundIn many UK hospitals, the COVID-19 pandemic and visiting restrictions prevented families from seeing their critically ill relatives. Consequently, strategies for virtual family communication have had a rapid and pervasive integration. Our objective was to explore the experiences of newly-graduated doctors carrying out virtual visits during the pandemic, with the view to better inform the family communications training currently provided to medical students.MethodsWe conducted a qualitative descriptive study using in-depth, semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis to explore the experiences of newly-graduated junior doctors who worked as family communication officers, facilitating virtual visiting, during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (April to July 2020). Interviews lasted between 35-40 minutes, were digitally recorded and professionally transcribed. Interview transcripts were analysed thematically; NVivo software was used for data management. ResultsWe recruited 8 newly-graduated doctors; 7 female, 1 male, with ages ranging from 23-27. Three main themes were carried through the participants’ experiences. The first theme “emotional demands'', describes the participants’ emotional response to working in busy ICUs during the pandemic, where the demand for virtual visits was vast, and the participants' exposure to relatives’ grief was overwhelming. The second theme illustrates the process by which participants rapidly acquired and honed new skills to successfully deliver family communication through a virtual platform. With the third theme of “resilience,” we learn about the sources of motivation participants tapped into to sustain working in the emotionally charged role of a pandemic family communication officer.ConclusionThis qualitative study highlights the combined emotional and technical challenges experienced by non-ICU-trained junior doctors working in a family communication role using virtual technology during the COVID-19 pandemic. We recommend the incorporation of virtual communication skills training into educational practice to better prepare the next generation of doctors for a new era of virtual family communication.