Preparing Nurses for Roles in Telehealth: Now is the Time!

Even though the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) essentials for BSN (2008), MSN (2011), and DNP (2006) education addressed technology in broad terms, there was minimal reference to virtual health and no mention of telehealth fAACN. 20201. Because of the limited emphasis, few nursing education programs integrated telehealth content within the curriculum. Through telehealth practice, the nurse uses a variety of technologies, such as videoconferencing to communicate with the patient;remote patient home monitoring to collect clinical data (e.g., blood pressure and blood glucose levels);and peripherals such as a Bluetooth stethoscope and a high definition camera to collect and deliver data to providers. [...]when society needed to embrace telehealth in response to COVID-19, healthcare professionals, including nurses, were caught without the needed training. [...]of the pandemic, telehealth has become a household word.