Other Titles

Changing Your Practice Through Technology Use

Abstract

Session presented on Sunday, July 24, 2016:

Introduction: Telehealth is a successful care modality that matches quality and affordability of care to underserved rural patients, allowing for assessment and education. This has been found to improve patient outcomes, patient satisfaction, and access to care. It also allows patients to access providers in the privacy and comfort of their homes or in local clinics in a timely and effective manner that, in turn, empowers patient self-management. Additional benefits are that patients are able to access specialty providers who are outside the rural area. Few Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) programs instruct students in the use of primary care telehealth technologies. The purpose of this presentation is to describe how telehealth content is developed, implemented, and evaluated as part of the Master's Family Nurse Practitioner Program to prepare APN students for the application of telehealth care within their practice sites.

Methods: A program was developed, implemented, and evaluated as part of a Master's Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) Program to prepare APN students for the application of telehealth within their practice sites. Immersed within the Reproductive Health course were several assignments: (1) hands-on exposure to self-management telehealth counseling for discomforts of pregnancy using standardized patients, (2) electronic patient educational toolkits for common discomforts of pregnancy and contraceptive usage, (3) video patient teaching of clinical breast exam, and (4) telehealth immersion experiences with pregnant-family home follow-up visits.

Results: The first cohort of students (N=32) integrated telephone calls, videos, face-time, and video presentations using telehealth modalities in their primary care practices to follow-up with patients in their homes to provide education, counseling and motivation for self-management of common discomforts of pregnancy. Additionally, electronic medical records were maintained and billing codes were identified. Formative and summative evaluations indicated patients and students were 'highly satisfied' with telehealth encounters.

Discussion: The telehealth program's electronic information and telecommunication supports long-distance clinical healthcare and patient health-related education. Students are prepared to conduct 'virtual' office visits with patients and caregivers upon completion of the incorporation of telehealth modalities in the FNP curriculum.

Author Details

Pamela Willson, RN, FNP-BC, CNE, FAANP, VHF; Susan K. Lee, RN; Dinorah Martinez-Anderson, RN, FNP-C

Sigma Membership

Beta Beta (Houston)

Type

Presentation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

N/A

Research Approach

N/A

Keywords:

Advanced Practice Nurse, Telehealth, Curriculum

Conference Name

27th International Nursing Research Congress

Conference Host

Sigma Theta Tau International

Conference Location

Cape Town, South Africa

Conference Year

2016

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

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Telehealth: Preparing advanced practice nurses (APNs) for transition into clinical practice

Cape Town, South Africa

Session presented on Sunday, July 24, 2016:

Introduction: Telehealth is a successful care modality that matches quality and affordability of care to underserved rural patients, allowing for assessment and education. This has been found to improve patient outcomes, patient satisfaction, and access to care. It also allows patients to access providers in the privacy and comfort of their homes or in local clinics in a timely and effective manner that, in turn, empowers patient self-management. Additional benefits are that patients are able to access specialty providers who are outside the rural area. Few Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) programs instruct students in the use of primary care telehealth technologies. The purpose of this presentation is to describe how telehealth content is developed, implemented, and evaluated as part of the Master's Family Nurse Practitioner Program to prepare APN students for the application of telehealth care within their practice sites.

Methods: A program was developed, implemented, and evaluated as part of a Master's Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) Program to prepare APN students for the application of telehealth within their practice sites. Immersed within the Reproductive Health course were several assignments: (1) hands-on exposure to self-management telehealth counseling for discomforts of pregnancy using standardized patients, (2) electronic patient educational toolkits for common discomforts of pregnancy and contraceptive usage, (3) video patient teaching of clinical breast exam, and (4) telehealth immersion experiences with pregnant-family home follow-up visits.

Results: The first cohort of students (N=32) integrated telephone calls, videos, face-time, and video presentations using telehealth modalities in their primary care practices to follow-up with patients in their homes to provide education, counseling and motivation for self-management of common discomforts of pregnancy. Additionally, electronic medical records were maintained and billing codes were identified. Formative and summative evaluations indicated patients and students were 'highly satisfied' with telehealth encounters.

Discussion: The telehealth program's electronic information and telecommunication supports long-distance clinical healthcare and patient health-related education. Students are prepared to conduct 'virtual' office visits with patients and caregivers upon completion of the incorporation of telehealth modalities in the FNP curriculum.