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K. Manella1, J. Anderson2, K. Anderson3
1University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences, Doctor of Physical Therapy Program, Austin, United States, 2Ensign Services, Inc., Therapy Resource, San Antonio, United States, 3Ensign Services, Inc, Copperfield Healthcare and Rehabilitation, Houston, United States
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States created a need for innovative strategies to provide students with clinical experiences needed to graduate. Severely impacted were clinical experiences in the Post-Acute Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) setting. In SNF facilities, COVID-19 spread was rampant, causing students to be restricted from these sites. This program was designed by a University Clinical Education Coordinator in collaboration with a clinical partner, Ensign Services LLC., a corporation of over 250 independent affiliates that offer in-house rehabilitation programs.
Purpose: The purpose of the program was to provide 80 hours of student engagement in a clinical experience in a SNF using a virtual and telehealth delivery method in lieu of an onsite experience. Objectives were to engage students in an interdisciplinary approach to patient management and enable students to complete requisite clinical experience weeks to matriculate in a timely manner. We hypothesized that providing a virtual and telehealth experience would adequately prepare students for practice in the SNF setting.
Methods: Program content included foundational concepts upon which interprofessional interactions and telehealth patient engagements were built. Learning Units focused on three common diagnoses in the SNF setting, appropriate interventions, documentation, and interprofessional patient management. The Ensign Learning Management System (LMS) provided virtual learning modules for Memory Care, Post-Acute Cardiac Care, Parkinson’s Disease, Infection Control, Management, and Research. Ten physical therapy students and two Clinical Instructors were enrolled in the program. Via live WebEx Seminars, clinical educators at the SNF conducted learning and debrief activities for all LMS content. Students engaged in four telehealth encounters with a clinical instructor at the facility; a case-based interprofessional team meeting, a patient Life History Profile Interview, an Initial Patient Visit, and a Progress Report Visit, each requiring a documentation assignment. The clinical instructor and student completed a comprehensive performance assessment wherein 12 professional and clinical skills were rated as below, meets, or exceeds expectations. The students completed a retrospective Self-Perception of Learning Survey based on perceived abilities in three areas: patient care management, interprofessional practice, and telehealth practice. The students completed our standard University course evaluation survey.
Results: All ten students completed the program and met or exceeded program expectations. Course evaluations reflected ratings of 3.5-3.7 on a 4-point scale indicating they were highly satisfied with course design, online delivery, course organization, and clinical instructors. Students commented that the learning experience was productive and engaging, telehealth patient interactions contributed most to their learning, they enjoyed collaborative learning activities, and were inspired by their clinical instructors and other interprofessional clinical educators. Students perceived increased abilities in patient care management and research and increased confidence providing interprofessional and telehealth care.
Conclusion(s): An 80-hour virtual telehealth clinical experience conducted in the SNF setting was effective in advancing student performance in patient care management, interprofessional practice and telehealth practice.
Implications: This academic/clinical partnership successfully employed virtual and telehealth technology to provide a full-time 2-week clinical experience in the SNF setting. The virtual telehealth clinical experience may be applicable to other types of settings and rural or difficult to access communities.
Funding, acknowledgements: There are no funding acknowledgements.
Keywords: Clinical Education, Virtual Learning, Telehealth Practice
Topic: Education: clinical
Did this work require ethics approval? No
Institution: N/A
Committee: N/A
Reason: addresses new and unique development in education
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
