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conferenceseries.com
Volume 6, Issue 1 (Suppl) J Nurs Care
ISSN: 2167-1168 JNC, an open access journal Nursing Global 2017
March 01-02, 2017
March 01-02, 2017 Amsterdam, Netherlands
24th Global
Nursing & Healthcare
Notes:
Thinking inside the box: Using telehealth to expand clinical education and training resources in the
developing world
Elke Zschaebitz
Georgetown University School of Nursing, USA
Twenty years ago, The University of Virginia became one of the first medical centers in the United States to see the potential
of using video communications to improve access to needed healthcare, especially for rural communities. To that end, the
University formed a Center for Telehealth tomobilize physicians, nurses, community health professionals and technologists to harness
broadband and wireless technologies to deliver critical medical services to patients regardless of location. This UVA Network has
created access to care for thousands in rural communities throughout Virginia but also has extended the reach of health education,
training and specialty care to Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia. And with emerging globalization, the health of people in
distant communities can affect the health of people everywhere.
The focus of this presentation will be the current state of telehealth capabilities in providing both broadband and wireless connectivity
into hard to reach communities. With the decrease cost of video-technology, the rapid expansion of cellular service and the near
ubiquitous presence of cell phones, the environment for care is expanding. The speakers, with 20 years of nursing, public health and
telehealth experience, will provide a primer on how to establish a telehealth program, a review of costs and technologies as well as an
exploration of various clinical use cases.
In particular, the speakers will review the outcomes from four successful projects that include a surgical and nurse training program
with the University of Rwanda, a specialty clinic in Liberia, a mid-wife training in the DRC (PROSAMI) as well as educational and
research support for projects in Uganda, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Participants will leave will a broader understanding of telehealth, program design and ideas for expanding the reach of clinical
services.
Biography
Elke Jones Zschaebitz, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, has served as adjunct faculty in the FNP program at Georgetown since 2013. She has been an NP since 1998,
initially working in Germany for nine years with the Department of Defense. During that time, she discovered her love of teaching, working with programs such as
Student2Student (S2S) for which she received a national award for innovation and excellence in mentoring high school students within the Department of Defense
educational network. Elke returned to the states in 2007 and was appointed as an assistant professor at the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Nursing. She
continued her academic work in 2010 serving as faculty at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Nursing to help improve their preceptorship program.
While at UVA, she received an innovative teaching award in 2010 for her program promoting cultural competence and ensuring preceptorship immersion in the
coalfield region in Southern Appalachia. She also served as faculty for the Healthy Appalachia Institute, a public health institute at UVA’s College at Wise. Elke’s
clinical practice experience includes work with the Wilkinson Pediatric Clinic at Ft. Lee, Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge in Charlottesville, the Minute Clinics
of Richmond, the High Risk Breast and Ovarian Clinic at UVA and in an integrated clinic called Thrive Health Care serving the LGBT community as well as those
with complex physical and mental health conditions. She currently practices as a family nurse practitioner at the UVA Elson Student Health Center in Charlottesville,
VA. In addition she serves as a volunteer at the Charlottesville Free Clinic precepting FNP and medical students in a community-based interdisciplinary program.
Elke Zschaebitz, J Nurs Care 2017, 6:1 (Suppl)