Published online February 9, 2009
PEDIATRICS Vol. 123 No. 3 March 2009, pp. e476-e483 (doi:10.1542/peds.2008-2193)
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by González-Espada, W. J.
Right arrow Articles by Smith, C. E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by González-Espada, W. J.
Right arrow Articles by Smith, C. E.
Related Collections
Right arrow Office Practice
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

ARTICLE

Achieving Success Connecting Academic and Practicing Clinicians Through Telemedicine

Wilson J. González-Espada, PhDa, Julie Hall-Barrow, EdDb, R. Whit Hall, MDc, Bryan L. Burke, MDc and Christopher E. Smith, MDc

a Department of Physical Sciences, Morehead State University, Morehead, Kentucky
b Center for Distance Health
c Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas

OBJECTIVE. Practicing clinicians, especially in rural areas, are often isolated from learning opportunities and interactions with subspecialty providers. Pediatric Physician Learning and Collaborative Education, an interactive, educational, telemedicine program, was developed to address this need. We evaluated the success of this program through surveys with practicing and academic physicians.

METHODS. Pediatric Physician Learning and Collaborative Education was assessed by using 2 evaluation forms collected from October 2007 to May 2008. One of the forms was completed by 197 attendees from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and 172 attendees from remote sites. Another form was completed by 131 participants from Arkansas Children's Hospital, an academic, freestanding, children's hospital. Both evaluation forms asked participants to use a 5-point Likert scale to rank a number of criteria and included a section for participants to write comments and recommendations. Additional data were collected through an open-response e-mail survey of participants.

RESULTS. Ninety-five percent of the participants agreed that the presentations related to their professional needs, 98% agreed that the presentations increased their subject-matter knowledge, 81% evaluated the presentations as some of the best they had attended, and 93% agreed that the information would translate into professional practice, enhancing patient care. Health care personnel from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences evaluated the presentations significantly higher than did remote participants. Nursing staff members evaluated the presentations significantly higher than did medical staff members. Comments were generally positive and correlated with the Likert-scale data.

CONCLUSION. Participants reported being highly satisfied with Pediatric Physician Learning and Collaborative Education and considered it an effective way to address the continuing education needs of practitioners throughout Arkansas, especially in rural and underserved areas.

Key Words: continuing medical education • videoconferencing • telemedicine • training programs • educational assessment • rural health services • survey methodology

Abbreviations: UAMS—University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences • ACH—Arkansas Children's Hospital • Peds PLACE—Pediatric Physician Learning and Collaborative Education

Accepted Nov 13, 2008.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?