Education of health professionals using a proposed telehealth system

The movement of health care from hospitals to the community has demanded a major shift in the way in which health care professionals are being taught. This paper describes the collaboration of the Schools of Nursing and Medicine in the use of telehealth technology for the education of health care professionals. The specific aims of the project were to use the technology for the verification of the students' assessment and physical examinations, for the conduct of multi-professional patient rounds, and provision of consultations to professionals at remote sites. Capitalizing on the Schools' previous experience for observing students via computer technology at remote sites, we employed PC-based workstations, specialized peripherals, and Internet connecting protocols to implement a telehealth project for professional clinical education. Initial student, faculty and staff reactions were generally positive. The formal evaluation plan focuses on students, faculty, and staff. Structured questionnaires are used and a comparison of learning by telehealth technology will be made with alternative (more conventional) methods in evaluating knowledge and quality of verification of physical examination findings, and satisfaction with the learning process.