Highlights:
1. Telehealth has positively impacted absenteeism by providing timely medical care regardless of transportation, insurance, or work schedules.
2. School-owned telehealth units connect families with distant specialists, eliminating long drives and time off work.
3. Telehealth supports military families by allowing deployed parents to join their child’s medical appointments.
4. Collaboration with local urgent care has reduced school absenteeism through early intervention.
5. Onsite tech support for nurses has improved efficiency and strengthened their role in student well-being.
Read this testimonial letter from Lisa E Patch, MSN, RN, NCSN, Executive Director of Health Services, Alamogordo Public School
The Challenges:
Ensuring continuous healthcare access for children, especially in rural areas.
The Approach:
- Collaborate with local healthcare providers and other specialists across the state
- Train school nurses to use telehealth technology.
- Integrate telehealth visits into the school’s daily operations.
Technical Requirements:
- Reliable internet connectivity.
- Communication/virtual visit platform with integrated and connected medical devices (e.g., stethoscopes, otoscopes, and dermoscopes).
“Implementation of telehealth in schools has made a positive impact on absenteeism by providing timely medical care to students regardless of transportation issues, insurance, and work schedules.” –
Lisa E. Patch, MSN, RN, NCSN
Executive Director of Health Services
Alamogordo Public Schools
Clinical Outcomes and Benefits:
School Health: Telehealth enables quick diagnosis and treatment, allowing children to stay in school and parents to remain at work, depending on the results.
Example: At Alamogordo Public Schools, nurses often had to send students home, requiring them to obtain a doctor’s note to return. Telehealth has enabled quick medical assessments, allowing students to receive care and stay in school. Additionally, collaboration with local urgent cares clinics has proven beneficial for sustainability. By using telehealth equipment to capture and upload medical images, providers can quickly review and make medical diagnoses and determinations, streamlining care delivery.
Specialty Care from Outside Providers: The perk for schools to purchase the equip vs. medical group is that it allows the nurse to partner with many different doctors, specialists and mental health professionals across the state to help families, so they don’t have to drive 4 hours to see a specialist. If the equipment is owned by a medical organization, they are limited to see only providers within that organization.
Additional benefits of telehealth in schools include:
- Reduced exposure to other illnesses compared to urgent care visits.
- Enhanced collaboration between providers, parents, and school nurses, leading to more consistent care.
- Improved access to specialists without the need for transportation or taking time off work.
Additional video resources about the program and guides other School-Based telehealth providers:
Telehealth Benefits & Conveniences
Telehealth Provider Information
How to Register for Telehealth
