Applying Nurse Practitioner Student Reflections in Design of Telehealth Curricula

Abstract

Telehealth demand increased precipitously among all populations, particularly Medicare beneficiaries with complex care needs, during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Current nurse practitioner (NP) graduates require practice readiness in telehealth when transitioning to advanced practice. Competency-based education models integrate progressive, multimodal evaluation of core practice competencies, including telehealth. Self-reflection supports student acquisition of new competencies. Thematic analysis of guided reflections after a pilot gerontologic robot-enabled telehealth simulation identified curricular opportunities in a primary care NP program. NP students’ perceived challenges in communication and adaptation to virtual patient presence were considered in building integrated telehealth curricula in clinical courses applying the 4Ps of Telehealth Education (Planning, Preparing; Providing; and Performance Improvement) framework.