But the physical exam should continue to be a cornerstone of care, Dr. Gravallese said. “We should continue to hold the physical exam in high esteem and insist on seeing our patients in person between telehealth visits to identify and confirm suspected physical findings.”
5. Educational meetings will never be the same. Virtual meetings have shown that digital platforms can be used for medical education, but concern looms that in-person meetings will become a thing of the past.
That doesn’t have to happen, according to Dr. Gravallese. “We should work to look forward to hybrid meetings, embracing remote learning, in part, while maintaining in-person exchanges of knowledge and ideas,” she said.
6. We are a global society facing common issues relevant to rheumatology. “As the pandemic has taught us how easily a virus can move across the globe, it has also taught us how easy it is to communicate with one another globally,” Dr. Gravallese said. “We can utilize these almost instantaneous connections to our advantage to solve problems collaboratively across borders.”
Thomas Collins is a freelance medical writer based in Florida.
