From a Distance...

 
Online Newsletter for Arkansas Distance Learning

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UAMS Rural Hospital Program Reaching out through TELEHEALTH
by Carol Bynum

For the past seventeen years the outreach mission of the Rural Hospital Program (RHP) at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has been to strengthen hospitals in Arkansas by sharing resources from UAMS. The program has used technology to redistribute knowledge and expertise throughout the state. RHP led the state’s efforts in telehealth in 1995 when it established two telehealth sites. Today, those two sites have expanded to include 50 rural hospitals, Area Health Education Centers (AHECs), and clinic sites across the state. RHP has extended telehealth services into some of the most rural and needy regions of Arkansas.

Nowhere is the distance barrier disappearing more rapidly than in medicine. Through telecommunications and real-time interactive video, instantaneous access of knowledge and expertise is becoming a reality. The telehealth network is helping to overcome some of the disparities in health care by eliminating the physical distance barrier for both patients and healthcare providers. Health care is most efficient when it is delivered locally, and telehealth technologies are proving to be an effective method for delivering these greatly needed services statewide.

Rural hospitals are increasingly threatened by the growing shortages of healthcare professionals. This lack of access to well-trained health providers and specialists in rural and underserved areas can affect the ability of healthcare facilities to meet the needs of their communities. RHP connects to medical communities by offering continuing medical education programs such as clinical education, patient care, and staff development on topics like nutrition, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, domestic violence, and chronic diseases most prevalent in Arkansas. Telehealth programs are valuable, convenient, and affordable consumer education programs for any person interested in learning more about living with, improving, and/or avoiding various health conditions. These statewide programs also bring continuing education (CE) opportunities to local medical personnel and their community from UAMS’ faculty, many of them renowned specialists, without incurring the burden and expense of travel. These communication technologies address workforce development in clinical specialties while decreasing isolation for rural primary care providers and their patients.

During the past year, RHP provided 82 staff development programs to hospitals with interactive video sites. From those sites, 2,669 nurses, 149 advanced practice nurses, 1,415 physicians, 476 pharmacists, 170 social workers, and 356 allied health professionals participated in either a live presentation via interactive video or online through the RHP web site http://uams.edu/rhp/onlinece. If a health professional cannot attend a live Interactive video CE presentation, they can access the presentation by going online at the above site. There they can also get their credits and print their certificate.

RHP continues to expand the programming available to rural practitioners through online continuing education. The internet and interactive media technologies enhance learning by fully engaging participants at a time and place that fits their schedule. RHP assists affiliated hospitals and clinics in their effort to deliver quality health care by creating an environment where hospitals and clinics can define their own needs for programs and services.

With the assistance of RHP affiliation, rural hospitals work to expand available health resources and provide access to quality health care for their rural residents. Affiliated hospitals collaborate with RHP to develop models that can be replicated in other rural areas. Connecting Arkansans via high speed networks enhances Arkansas’ ability to educate its healthcare workforce and expand healthcare for all of its citizens. A network of connected hospitals is essential if the health care system is to function effectively and provide access to basic emergency medical care in rural Arkansas.

About the Author

Ann Bynum, EdD, is the UAMS Assistant Vice Chancellor for Regional Programs and Co-Director of the Center for Distance Health. She has been the Director of the UAMS Rural Hospital Program since its inception in 1991. Dr. Bynum has worked with rural hospital administrators, local community leaders, and UAMS administration to build the program from its initial membership of 5 hospitals in the Arkansas Delta to an association of 50 hospitals and clinics across the state.

She was appointed by the governor to serve on the Southern Governor’s Association Task Force on Medical Technology and the Rural Hospital Telehealth Program was nominated by the Governor as the best telecommunication program in the South at the Southern Growth Policies Board Technology Conference.

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