title: The telehealth skills, training, and implementation project: an evaluation protocol.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Telehealth appears to be an ideal mechanism for assisting rural patients and doctors and medical students/registrars in accessing specialist services. Telehealth is the use of enhanced broadband technology to provide telemedicine and education over distance. It provides accessible support to rural primary care providers and medical educators. A telehealth consultation is where a patient at a general practice, with the assistance of the general practitioner or practice nurse, undertakes a consultation by videoconference with a specialist located elsewhere. Multiple benefits of telehealth consulting have been reported, particularly those relevant to rural patients and health care providers. However there is a paucity of research on the benefits of telehealth to medical education and learning.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This protocol explains in depth the process that will be undertaken by a collaborative group of universities and training providers in this unique project.
  
  
  METHODS
  Training sessions in telehealth consulting will be provided for participating practices and students. The trial will then use telehealth consulting as a real-patient learning experience for students, general practitioner trainees, general practitioner preceptors, and trainees.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results will be available when the trial has been completed in 2015.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The protocol has been written to reflect the overarching premise that, by building virtual communities of practice with users of telehealth in medical education, a more sustainable and rigorous model can be developed. The Telehealth Skills Training and Implementation Project will implement and evaluate a theoretically driven model of Internet-facilitated medical education for vertically integrated, community-based learning environments.
authors.affiliation: Telehealth Division, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2477-1646
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bonney
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5760-6060
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Knight-Billington
authors.forename: Judy
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3772-7986
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mullan
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7186-4242
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moscova
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4886-4054
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Barnett
authors.forename: Don
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2452-6923
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Iverson
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7331-333X
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Saffioti
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1665-0027
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Eastland
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7256-4938
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guppy
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9905-7458
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Weston
authors.forename: Ian
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2603-2660
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: Judith Nicky
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7366-1369
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Hudson
authors.forename: Dimity
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6520-4213
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pond
authors.forename: Gerard
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1381-7426
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gill
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4582-7728
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hespe
keywords: enhanced broadband; medical education; telehealth