The Need to Educating Healthcare Providers on Telemedicine

The Need to Educating Healthcare Providers on Telemedicine

Thank you for your post. I agree with you. Although telemedicine provides new and great opportunities for the healthcare delivery system, there is a need to focus on approaches to equip the users, especially healthcare providers, with the necessary telemedicine knowledge and skills. The rapid technological advancements and adoption in healthcare have, however, not been met with the necessary healthcare provider education to support the full use of such technologies in healthcare delivery. The largely missing standardized competencies essential for efficient telehealth use among advanced practice nurses (APNs) are critical barriers that may slow the establishment of telemedicine and the transition to telehealth care (Rutledge et al., 2021).

According to a study, most healthcare providers have a basic knowledge of telemedicine (Datta et al., 2021). However, the necessary attitudes and skills for the utilization of telemedicine are still lacking. Therefore, healthcare professionals training need to develop and adopt training programs focusing on telehealth competency-based training in clinical and in-service settings. The training should not only focus on the required technical skills but also on the attitudes and concerns of the healthcare providers towards the use of telemedicine in healthcare. Rutledge et al. (2021) suggest the provision of telehealth competency training programs that align with the Four P’s Telehealth framework, i.e., Planning (for implementation), Preparing (readiness for implementation), Providing (delivery of telehealthcare), and Performance Evaluation (Impact evaluation) will support the development of standardized telehealth competencies. As nurses are the major agents of new innovations and technologies in healthcare, ensuring their competencies in telemedicine is the only way healthcare organizations and the healthcare system will tap into the full potential of such technologies in health delivery.

References

Datta, R., Singh, A., & Mishra, P. (2021). A survey of awareness, knowledge, attitude, and skills of telemedicine among healthcare professionals in India. Medical Journal Armed Forces India. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.MJAFI.2021.08.017

Rutledge, C. M., O’Rourke, J., Mason, A. M., Chike-Harris, K., Behnke, L., Melhado, L., Downes, L., & Gustin, T. (2021). Telehealth Competencies for Nursing Education and Practice: The Four P’s of Telehealth. Nurse Educator, 46(5), 300. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNE.0000000000000988