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KNOWLEDGE, CONFIDENCE, AND ATTITUDE TOWARD VIRTUAL CARE 2AbstractIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth and virtual healthcare modalities have become primary care delivery methods. The American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing (AACN) and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) support using virtual care and telehealth technology in health care services. Although most healthcare institutions utilize telehealth to provide care, emerging research highlights the lack of telehealth training in Advanced Practice Nurse (APRN) education. However, no standard curriculum requirements mandate graduate nursing programs to train APRN students in telehealth or virtual health modalities. Due to the lack of training for APRNs, it can be very challenging for new APRNs entering clinical settings that rely heavily on virtual care and telehealth services. Therefore, the purpose of this quality improvement project was to assess the current state of APRN students’ perceived knowledge, confidence, and attitudes in conducting virtual care/telehealth visits using a standardized patient simulation activity as an adjunct training opportunity for students enrolled in their program's Advanced Health Assessment Course. The project findings will help the graduate nursing program comply with the guidelines of the AANP and AACN recommendations for APRN education programs, which strongly promote the incorporation of virtual care and telehealth technology into nursing program curricula.

There are various clinical pathways utilized to care for veterans diagnosed with chronic illness including remote patient monitoring. With over 50% of the VAMC veterans diagnosed with a chronic illness it is a priority to incorporate telehealth modalities to manage their care. Home telehealth remote patient monitoring is one of many telehealth interventions used to manage chronic conditions. This DNP quality improvement (QI) project sought out to promote remote patient care monitoring for patients suspected or diagnosed with COVID-19 as a standard of care in primary care settings. Providing education that promotes and supports existing recommendations for treating patients suspected or positive for COVID-19 has the potential of being the standard of care for COVID-19 patients who do not require hospitalization. A post-training Likert scale was utilized which revealed 100% of training participants “strongly agreed” with four out of eight survey statements. Furthermore, 87% of participants “strongly agreed: with all eight statements, and 17% “somewhat agreed” with the remaining four statements. Overall, positive results suggest participants felt the training was comprehendible, applicable to clinical practice, and relevant to their work. Historically, this organizations’ new employee orientation included telehealth staff providing face-to-face training for new employees. However, the COVID-19 pandemic made required immediate transitions in offering home telehealth services across clinical settings. This rapid change contributed to lack of standardize home telehealth training for newly hired primary care staff. Monitoring patients suspected or diagnosed with COVID-19 via home telehealth is relatively a new topic. Therefore, recommendations for integration of home telehealth services to patients suspected or diagnosed with COVID-19, requires further evaluation.