Integration of Telehealth Policy Education Into an Existing Advanced Practiced Nurse Practitioner Policy Course

摘要

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) mandates health care policy and advocacy within their accreditation requirements for advanced practice nursing education (AACN, 2006, 2011 ). These essential skills equip graduate nurses in advocacy, engagement, development, and evaluation of health care policy that influences future practice and the delivery of health care services to patients. In addition to gaining health care policy knowledge surrounding advanced practice nurse practitioner (APRN) practice, graduate nursing students must also have intimate knowledge regarding telehealth laws and policies, and how they affect their practice. Similar to the nonconformity of APRN practice acts between states, the ability to use a telehealth modality varies as well. Telehealth is an efficient and effective way to increase access to care and to extend the reach of health care beyond the walls of a traditional clinic. The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 brought an unprecedented expansion of the use of telehealth across the care continuum. It is imperative that APRN students understand how telehealth is regulated and how those regulations affect the development of telehealth programs and the delivery of care via telehealth, which is supported by the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF, 2018 ). This article describes how telehealth-specific ARPN laws and policies were seamlessly integrated into an existing graduate nursing health care policy and advocacy course.