The Pulse recently sat down with each primary author from the recently released Journal of Medical Sciences (JMS), an online, student-led, peer-reviewed scholarly journal. The journal provides a platform for NEOMED students, faculty and affiliates to publish original research, opinion pieces, editorials, reviews, abstracts and other works.
Third-year medicine student Rachel Krevh shared insights from her publication, titled “Improving Community Health by Encouraging Remote Office Visits.”
What are the main findings of your research?
Telemedicine can be a realistic option for scheduling dermatology visits and can help decrease the amount of time that patients wait to see a dermatologist. COVID-19 helped dermatologists see the benefit of telemedicine.
How did you develop your interest in your research topic?
I developed my interest in this topic because COVID-19 changed my entire medical school experience, and I was curious how it changed dermatologists' experiences, whether positive or negative. I also have several friends who experienced long wait times for dermatology appointments, and I wondered how this could be addressed.
What is something unexpected you learned during this process?
Something unexpected I learned from this process is the continuous brainstorming and problem solving involved in a research project, and how the project can always be further fine-tuned.
What are the next steps for your research?
The next step for my research is observing how teledermatology has impacted the quality of dermatology visits. I am also involved in several dermatology research projects and love learning how we can improve treatment plans, patient experiences, etc.
Is there anything you would do differently if you could do it again?
If I did this again, I would create the article first and then the infographic, not the other way around.
What advice would you give other students considering research?
For other students considering research, I encourage you to constantly ask yourself if you have ideas about improving patient outcomes or health care disparities. Transform these ideas into projects, surveys or even just ask your peers about their thoughts, and try to translate this into a project or initiative. There is always room for improvement in health care!
What advice would you give others about submitting an article for publication or dealing with peer review?
For those submitting an article for publication or dealing with peer review, I encourage you to remain flexible and open to comments. You most likely will have revisions, whether big or small. Be open to your peers' comments. We are all helping each other in this process.
Read “Improving Community Health by Encouraging Remote Office Visits”