title: Primary Care Team Members Report Greater Individual Benefits from Long- Versus Short-Term Specialty Telemedicine Mentorship.
abstract: Primary care providers who participate in structured specialty telemedicine mentorship report improvements in clinical content mastery, professional satisfaction, and specialist communication.
  
  
  
  Although these programs require investments of infrastructure resources and time, the duration of participation required to accrue optimal benefits is not known. We aimed to assess whether duration of participation is related to improved benefits of a longitudinal telemedicine-based mentorship program, specifically regarding perceived specialty care access, acquisition of new knowledge and skills, team integration, and overall job satisfaction.
  
  
  
  We conducted an e-mail survey of Veterans Affairs-based primary care team members in the United States' Pacific Northwest region who engaged in a longitudinal telemedicine mentorship program (n = 78).
  
  
  
  After adjustment for potential confounding factors, respondents who engaged in telemedicine mentorship for ≥1 year were significantly more likely to strongly agree that telemedicine mentorship improved patient access to specialty care (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 9.3, p < 0.005) and was useful in treating other patients on their panels (AOR = 3.7, p = 0.04). Participation ≥1 year was also associated with higher self-reported knowledge and competencies (AOR = 4.0, p = 0.03) and with perception of integration into a clinical team (AOR = 5.6, p = 0.01), but not with overall job satisfaction.
  
  
  
  Telemedicine-based specialty mentorship programs are highly valued by primary care-based participants, and self-reported benefits accumulate beyond 1 year of participation.
authors.affiliation: 1 General Medicine Service, VA Puget Sound Health Care System , Seattle, Washington.|2 Health Services Research and Development Center for Innovation , VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, Washington.|3 Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Washington , Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: Lauren A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Beste
authors.affiliation: 4 Pulmonary and Critical Care Section, Hospital and Specialty Medicine , VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Mattox
authors.affiliation: 5 Nephrology Section, Hospital and Specialty Medicine , VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, Washington.|6 Division of Nephrology and Kidney Research Institute, University of Washington , Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: Raimund
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pichler
authors.affiliation: 2 Health Services Research and Development Center for Innovation , VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, Washington.|5 Nephrology Section, Hospital and Specialty Medicine , VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, Washington.|6 Division of Nephrology and Kidney Research Institute, University of Washington , Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: Bessie A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Young
authors.affiliation: 2 Health Services Research and Development Center for Innovation , VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, Washington.|4 Pulmonary and Critical Care Section, Hospital and Specialty Medicine , VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, Washington.|7 Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, University of Washington , Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: David H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Au
authors.affiliation: 8 Office of Specialty Care Services , Patient Care Services, Department of Veterans Health Administration, Washington, District of Columbia.|9 Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center , Cleveland, Ohio.|10 Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine , Cleveland, Ohio.
authors.forename: Susan F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Kirsh
authors.affiliation: 2 Health Services Research and Development Center for Innovation , VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: Maureen W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Germani
authors.affiliation: 2 Health Services Research and Development Center for Innovation , VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: Ashley
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hedeen
authors.affiliation: 2 Health Services Research and Development Center for Innovation , VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, Washington.|6 Division of Nephrology and Kidney Research Institute, University of Washington , Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: Bonnie K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Harp
authors.affiliation: 11 Gastroenterology and Hepatology Service , VA Portland Health Care System, Portland, Oregon.|12 Gastroenterology and Hepatology Division, Oregon Health & Sciences University , Portland, Oregon.
authors.forename: Michael F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D008511:Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D008611:Mentors; D008875:Middle Aged; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States
keywords: ECHO; education; professional development; telehealth; veterans