Telehealth and how It Can be used in Nursing Education
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Telehealth and how It Can be used in Nursing Education
Telehealth is one of the emerging innovations that have improved how healthcare providers are delivering health care to patients. Telehealth is a form of technology that allows healthcare providers to engage with their patients electronically or virtually when they are at different locations (Fathi et al., 2017). The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) made healthcare organizations understand the need to integrate telehealth due to the increased need to reduce contact between healthcare providers and patients (Chike-Harris et al., 2021). The rapid rate of telehealth integration by health systems also calls for the need to train nurses who can effectively use the technology to deliver health care to patients. Nurse educators need to understand the importance of telehealth and strive to help nursing students understand the same. They should also know the important teaching points to focus on during training to ensure that they instill the right knowledge and skills in the learners (Rutledge et al., 2018). It is highly imperative the nurse educators understand changes in technological trends in the healthcare industry to be able to teach relevant concepts to nursing students.
Important Points for Nurse Educators
Nurse educators who are aspiring to teach future nurses about telehealth should receive adequate training to prepare themselves for the role. They must first learn how to use the technology before applying their knowledge to the learners to provide them with the best educational experience (Veringa, 2021). According to Health Recovery Solutions, the initial step towards teaching students how to use telehealth entails developing a curriculum that encourages learning. Nurse educators must understand that the types of exchanges that telehealth offer are quite different from those that occur during face-to-face interaction (Veringa, 2021). For example, as opposed to meeting one another in the same physical environment during face-to-face interaction, telehealth utilizes a digital screen, separating the patient from the provider in a virtual platform. Therefore, the nurse educator is charged with the responsibility of designing telehealth training programs in a manner that will teach students how to effectively utilize the technology to improve patient engagement and outcomes in the digital environment (Veringa, 2021). Additionally, registered nurses who want to become nurse educators should ensure that they receive telehealth training during their educational advancement journey.
Importance of Telehealth
Telehealth is of great importance in today’s healthcare environment. According to ( ), health disparity is a big problem in the United States especially among rural dwellers who are unable to access healthcare services. The problem of reduced health care access of fueled by the shortage of healthcare professionals (Fathi et al., 2017). The rapid integration of telehealth by health systems helps to address health disparities by increasing health care access to patients, families, and communities in rural areas. With the existence of telehealth, patients can engage their healthcare providers virtually without having to travel to healthcare facilities. Additionally, multidisciplinary teams can share opinions regarding a patient’s case and agree regarding the best interventions to implement to solve a patient’s problems (Fathi et al., 2017). Therefore, it is evident that today’s training programs for nurses must incorporate telehealth training to prepare professionals who can provide timely, efficient, and patient-centered care to patients.
The National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF) supports the need for registered nurses and advanced practice registered nurses to receive telehealth training. In 2018, the agency recommended that nursing institutions should integrate telehealth education into their curricula (Chike-Harris et al., 2021). The relevant competencies that telehealth training is expected to offer include; an understanding of the benefits of telehealth, how to use telehealth to deliver efficient, safe, and patient-centered care, as well as privacy and security issues surrounding the use of telehealth among other facets of the technology (Chike-Harris et al., 2021). Notably, professionalism is a key requirement in ensuring that nurses effectively implement telehealth.
Equipping nurse practitioners with telehealth knowledge and skills empowers them to be creative and be able to apply the technology not only to improve patients’ outcomes but also to strengthen health systems. As frontline healthcare workers, nurse practitioners can utilize telehealth to shape and transform the healthcare delivery process (Rutledge et al., 2018). In this respect, telehealth education programs for nurse practitioners should be designed in such a way that they will prepare the professionals to respond to the challenges that they encounter when delivering patient care and to promote innovation using the technology (Rutledge et al., 2018). The COVID-19 pandemic has helped health systems to learn how important it is to integrate telehealth.
Areas to Focus on When Teaching Telehealth
Nurse educators should be aware of the important teaching points that they should focus on when training students about telehealth. According to Health Recovery Solutions, there are important aspects of telehealth that nurse educators should inform students about during training. These areas include privacy, virtual exams, and remote monitoring (Veringa, 2021). Nursing students must be trained on how to maintain privacy when handling personal medical information using telehealth. Additionally, it is important to teach nursing students about virtual exams to equip them with the knowledge and skills to read patients’ appearance and body language during virtual meetings. Besides, it is important to teach nursing students how they can remotely track their patients using telehealth on a daily basis (Veringa, 2021). It is worthwhile noting that the most important thing that the nurse educator should strive to achieve is to ensure that students learn the basics that they need to use telehealth effectively to deliver patient care.
Teaching Telehealth Training
As rapid technological advancements continue to shape health care delivery, today and future nurses need to be trained on how to use various technologies to deliver efficient and safe patient care. Nurses must learn how to use telehealth in order to remain relevant in the future healthcare environment (Chike-Harris et al., 2021). In this regard, nurse educators should strive to advance the nursing practice through telehealth by ensuring that they remain creative and innovative. Again, they should be adequately informed about the technological changes that are taking place in the healthcare industry and use the information to design educational programs aimed at teaching nurses how to use those technologies (Chike-Harris et al., 2021).
Conclusion
Telehealth is a form of technology that allows healthcare providers to engage with their patients electronically or virtually when they are at different locations. The technology has helped to increase healthcare access to patients in rural areas. As healthcare organizations continue to integrate telehealth at a rapid rate, there is a need to train nurses on how to use the technology. Nurse educators need to understand the importance of telehealth and how to implement it in order to offer the best training to nursing students. The important aspects of telehealth that nurse educators should inform students about during training include privacy, virtual exams, and remote monitoring. Essentially, nurse educators should be adequately informed about the technological changes that are taking place in the healthcare industry and use the information to design educational programs aimed at teaching nurses how to use those technologies for the betterment of patients’ health.
References
Chike-Harris, K. E., Garber, K., & Derouin, A. (2021). Telehealth educational resources for graduate nurse faculty. Nurse Educator, 46(5):295-299. doi: 10.1097/NNE.0000000000001055.
Fathi, J. T., Modin, H. E., & Scott, J. D. (2017). Nurses advancing telehealth services in the era of healthcare reform. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 22(2). doi:10.3912/OJIN.Vol22No02Man02. https://doi.org/10.3912/OJIN.Vol22No02Man02
Rutledge, C., Pitts, C., Poston, R., & Schweickert, P. (2018). NONPF supports telehealth in nurse practitioner education. https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.nonpf.org/resource/resmgr/2018_Slate/Telehealth_Paper_2018.pdf
Veringa, E. (2021). Training clinicians with telehealth. Health Recovery Solutions, https://www.healthrecoverysolutions.com/blog/training-clinicians-with-telehealth