დისტანციური კლინიკური შეფასება და შეზღუდვების აღიარება [TELE-03]

დისტანციური კლინიკური შეფასება და შეზღუდვების აღიარება [TELE-03]

Remote clinical assessment has expanded access to care across Georgia and the broader South Caucasus, where geographic and infrastructural barriers continue to limit in-person specialist availability — yet this expansion has outpaced the formal clinical training needed to conduct it safely. Unlike face-to-face encounters, video consultations cannot reliably capture auscultatory findings, palpation data, or the nuanced physical signs that frequently determine diagnostic direction; when these limitations go unrecognized or undocumented, patient safety is directly compromised. Systematic reviews published in npj Digital Medicine and The Lancet Digital Health confirm that diagnostic error rates in telehealth increase measurably when clinicians lack structured frameworks for identifying assessment boundaries and escalating care. This course addresses that deficit directly, equipping practitioners with the competencies required to conduct remote encounters rigorously and to know — with confidence — when a virtual visit is not enough.

The course is grounded in the WHO guideline on digital health interventions (2019), Joint Commission International telemedicine standards, and ISO 13131:2021 (Health informatics — Telehealth services — Quality planning guidelines for telehealth), synthesizing these frameworks into practical, clinically actionable guidance. Teaching methodology combines structured case vignettes drawn from primary care and emergency triage scenarios representative of Georgian ambulatory practice, guided self-assessment exercises, and decision-modelling tasks that build automaticity in recognising referral triggers. All clinical content has been reviewed against current evidence from Cochrane systematic reviews on teleconsultation safety and the European Commission’s Joint Action on Health Technology Assessment recommendations for remote care pathways.

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Distinguish clinical presentations that are appropriate for remote assessment from those that mandate in-person evaluation, using a validated symptom-acuity stratification framework.
• Implement a structured video consultation protocol — including pre-encounter preparation, real-time environmental optimisation, and systematic symptom elicitation — that meets JCI and ISO 13131:2021 quality standards.
• Evaluate the diagnostic reliability of specific remote examination proxies (self-reported vital signs, patient-assisted inspection, caregiver-assisted assessment) and apply appropriate clinical caveats to each finding.
• Construct documentation for remote encounters that satisfies Georgian regulatory requirements for electronic medical records and provides a legally defensible account of assessment boundaries communicated to the patient.
• Apply a structured escalation algorithm to identify the threshold at which a remote encounter must be converted to emergency referral, urgent in-person follow-up, or specialist teleconsultation.
• Demonstrate explicit communication strategies for disclosing remote assessment limitations to patients in a manner consistent with informed consent obligations and WHO patient safety communication principles.

Who Should Attend

This course is designed for licensed physicians, nurses, and physician assistants who conduct or supervise telehealth consultations in primary care, internal medicine, paediatrics, or emergency triage settings, whether in public polyclinics, private ambulatory centres, or hospital outpatient departments across Georgia. It is equally relevant to clinical leads and quality officers responsible for developing institutional telemedicine protocols and audit standards. Practitioners at all career stages will benefit, though the course is particularly valuable for those who have begun conducting remote consultations without prior structured training in their limitations and documentation requirements.

Course Structure

TELE-03 is delivered entirely online through the GMJ Academy learning platform, with an estimated study commitment of four to five hours comprising video-based instruction, interactive case scenarios, and a summative competency assessment requiring a minimum score of 75% for completion. Successful participants receive a GMJ Academy certificate of completion carrying CPD credit recognised under the continuing medical education framework of the Medical Activity Regulation Authority of Georgia.