Telehealth in Mental Health Nursing Education: Health Care Simulation With Remote Presence Technology.

The feasibility of integrating remote presence technology within a simulation scenario for psychiatric-mental health nursing (PMHN) students to develop telehealth competencies was evaluated. A wireless, audiovisual robot from Double® Robotics, maneuverable by smartphone or tablet computer, was used to simulate the facilitation of students' patient assessment and treatment decisions from a distant location for 32 weeks (total hours of robotic simulation = 32). Qualitative data were collected to assess student and faculty satisfaction, as well as for feasibility evaluations. Overall, students participating in the telehealth-enabled simulations reported moderate (9 of 36 students) to strong (25 of 36 students) value for the use of telemedicine within the simulation in a 3-point Likert scale post-simulation survey. These results illustrate the feasibility of using a remote presence robot in an educational simulation environment. Remote presence in clinical simulations can contribute to workforce preparation to apply telehealth-enabled communication in PMHN settings. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, xx(x), xx-xx.].