Telehealth in Psychiatric Nursing Education: Lessons From the Field

BACKGROUND: This article summarizes the experiences that a Midwest college of nursing had when telepsychiatry was introduced for psychiatric-mental health post-master’s nurse practitioner students to use in a clinical internship. AIMS: Implications for nurse practitioner educators will be identified, and recommendations for future research will be explored. METHOD: Described are the following: (1) policies and procedures the institution considered, (2) challenges that were encountered by faculty and students, and (3) strategies and limitations of these strategies defining best practice, what didactic content should be taught, and how clinical placements needed to be structured. RESULTS: Implications for nurse practitioner educators, practice, and research are identified. CONCLUSIONS: It is clear that telepsychiatry has an important role in the clinical education of psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners. It is working well as a clinical internship option. The college of nursing is continuing to examine and address issues and is looking forward to enhancing the telepsychiatry experiences for students in the future