Innovation grant improves telehealth education for Hawaii nursing students
As part of the federal CARES Act, the State of Hawaii Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) fund provided an innovation grant to the UH Manoa Nancy Atmospera-Walch School of Nursing (NAWSON).
GEER aimed to fund innovative initiatives that address the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on students, families, and educators across the state. Initiatives included creating digital equity, providing support for families, and distanced learning. The grants also supported continuing efforts to provide quality and impactful educational services and to support the ongoing function of schools and campuses.
NAWSON received one of 31 innovation grant awards encompassing STEM education, project-based learning opportunities, and leadership development programs. The NAWSON “Telehealth Training” grant was one of 11 UH System GEER grants and was recently successfully completed.
“Telehealth has emerged as an important tool for healthcare providers,” said Deborah Mattheus, PhD, APRN-Rx, CPNP, Nancy Atmospera-Walch Professor in School Health & Associate Professor. “By educating nursing students, we can ensure that our graduates are prepared to function utilizing telehealth which can expand quality healthcare to the people of Hawaii without expanding the cost.”
The $130,000 NAWSON GEER grant created a telehealth training toolkit that is culturally appropriate, immersive, and experiential for healthcare providers and students, so they can provide high quality team-based healthcare.
Co-principal investigators Drs. Deborah Mattheus and Lorrie Wong accomplished 4 key deliverables:
- Developed a telehealth toolkit for 5 UH System nursing programs: Kauai Community College, Maui College, Kapiolani Community College, UH Hilo, and UH Manoa. The toolkit is available online and includes: the basics of the telehealth process; training on how to write, facilitate and debrief a telehealth simulation; and pre-recorded telehealth simulation scenarios and videos related to behavioral health, pediatric illness, acute and chronic disease management for elderly, and women’s health.
- Purchased telehealth equipment and software licenses for the 5 UH System nursing programs and provided training on use of the equipment.
- Trained nursing faculty at the 5 UH System nursing programs on the implementation of the telehealth toolkit to optimize student learning.
- Evaluated the 5 UH System nursing programs trainings.
“Our nursing program is always at the forefront of innovation and technology,” said Lorrie Wong, PhD, RN, CHSE-A, Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Director of UH THSSC & HMSA Distinguished Professor. “To ensure that our students are prepared for the ever-changing healthcare environment, we quickly integrated telehealth into our nursing curriculum. Telehealth aligns with the existing technology modalities already utilized in our program. We were quite fortunate to receive this grant and were pleased to purchase telehealth equipment and provide training to the other University of Hawaii System nursing programs.”
Faculty at the UH System nursing programs are currently implementing the telehealth equipment and simulation trainings this academic year. The dissemination of the telehealth equipment and the telehealth toolkit across the UH System programs allows for statewide training of the future healthcare workforce.
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About the UH Mānoa Nancy Atmospera-Walch School of Nursing
The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Nancy Atmospera-Walch School of Nursing (NAWSON) is the leader in nursing education and research in Hawai‘i with outreach to Asia and the Pacific Basin. Our mission is to provide an innovative, caring and multicultural environment in which faculty, students and staff work together to generate and transmit knowledge, wisdom, and values to promote quality of life and health for present and future generations. To reflect Hawai‘i’s unique cultural diversity and heritage, we are committed to increasing the representation of Native Hawaiian and other underserved people in all nursing programs. The school offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs.