In 2022, we received a HRSA grant to support the development of the South Carolina Rural Telehealth workforce Pipeline Network.

And this network really has two main goals.

The first is to develop a telehealth student pipeline, and the second is to support telehealth activity that's already going on in these communities.

So the way that we are approaching the first goal to develop a telehealth student pipeline is we're partnering with Florence Darlington Technical College, where we're training their instructors to deliver telehealth education and really have an integrated into their curriculum.

Additionally, through a partnership with PeeDee AHEC, we train their team to deliver telehealth education into the local high schools.

So the second goal is to support telehealth activity in rural communities.

And the way we've approached this is by hiring a few team members to directly support telehealth going on in these communities, including tele presenting and supporting the technology side.

The network really is an opportunity for students and for high school and undergraduate students to learn and experience telehealth.

Telemedicine, what it looks like, feels like, sounds like and where it's going.

I think really the most recent changes where we've started delivering the education on campus to the students while they're in school is the biggest change integration of telehealth really came as on the job training once the students were out and into the workforce.

So now we're taking it, bringing it to the classroom.

And I think that's one of the biggest changes, because I didn't experience telehealth until I started working in the hospital.

Now the students are getting to see the impact of telehealth and the opportunities that exist for them, that all of that can be done from either the comfort of their own home or in their home hospital that's closest to the patient.

And they are able to have an impact in that telehealth visit for these patients.

Being here at Black River.

The telehealth program is so cool, and it also shows me that, like you, you don't have to go to a larger city to practice medicine.

Like, I can go off to medical school and I can come right back and serve my community.

So the goal of the program is to create awareness for students around telehealth.

Answering that question, What is it?

How is it?

Who is it?

Who can use it?

Where do I go?

So it really is that awareness, the experience with the equipment, the experience with a provider.

So it's it's again, creating awareness around telehealth.

So my role with MUSC health is to as a workforce development instructor, is to educate incoming health care students who either are deciding to come into health care or want to try it out.

So we get to have a little bit more fun with our students, the team.

They've created a really great PowerPoint presentation.

But they've also given me sort of like a golden nugget.

They've given me Tyto.

So I get to be a clinician sometimes, and it's really neat because the students also practice being clinicians.

So we have a telehealth device, we have an iPad, we've got Tyto.

It's a small device that allows the students to kind of play and practice.

They can take temperatures, they can look into ears back into mouths.

So it's really it's a really neat experience for them.

They get to learn MUSC culture.

They get to learn about telehealth, which is something they might have not known about.

They learn how they can access it, how they can teach their family to access it.

I really would like to see us continue to keep all of this education integrated.

The goal was for the program to be sustainable, and so that was really one of the things we looked at at the very beginning, is what is the sustainability?

And then we really looked at if if the instructors are delivering the information, it is more sustainable so that we can continue this even once the grant is complete, the goal is for it to be sustainable.

So all of this integration will remain with these programs for the next ten years and we will update as we can.

The changes in telehealth so that we can deliver this education.