Designing Web-based telemedicine training for military health care providers.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of the study was to ascertain those learning objectives that will initiate increased use of telemedicine by military health care providers. Telemedicine is increasingly moving to the center of the health care industry's service offerings. As this migration occurs, health professionals will require training for proper and effective change management. The United States Department of Defense (DoD) is embracing the use of telemedicine and wishes to use Web-based training as a tool for effective change management to increase use. This article summarizes the findings of an educational needs assessment of military health care providers for the creation of the DoD Web-based telemedicine training curriculum. METHODS: Forty-eight health care professionals were interviewed and surveyed to capture their opinions on what learning objectives a telemedicine training curriculum should include. RESULTS: Twenty learning objectives were found to be needed in a telemedicine training program. These 20 learning objectives were grouped into four learning clusters that formed the structure for the training program. In order of importance, the learning clusters were clinical, technical, organizational, and introduction to telemedicine. FINDINGS: From these clusters, five Web-based modules were created, with two addressing clinical learning needs and one for each of the other learning objective clusters.

Implementing store-and-forward telemedicine: organizational issues.

This article documents a study of an organization's cultural readiness for successful implementation of a store-and-forward telemedicine system in a military health care environment. The study focused on the organization's cultural attributes that reflect its learning propensity and thereby its capability to adapt effectively and utilize the new technology. Results suggest that the organization did not possess the most favorable attributes for the utilization of a new technology, and the utilization of the new system was significantly lower than expected during the first 6 months of implementation.