Incorporating iPad Clinical Site Visits in a Family Nurse Practitioner Program in a Regional University Located in a Rural Community

Background Information:  The setting for this project is a regional university in a rural Midwestern United States’ community.  The School of Nursing prepares Family Nurse Practitioner students for advanced practice in primary care settings.  The clinical sites utilized for the primary care courses include 30 Family Practice clinics in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Through the use of "Face Time", iPads were utilized to communicate with the students and their preceptors in the rural setting and serve to provide faculty another method of a clinical site visit.

Programs and Practices:  The School of Nursing is committed to the University's mission of providing undergradu­ate and graduate programs and services to the people of southeast Kansas, but also to others who seek the benefits offered. The PSU/FNP program is delivered as a hybrid program. The program utilizes a clinical preceptorship model which allows the FNP student the opportunity to perform clinical experiences in practicums located in the student’s home community.

Description of Methods:  The goals and objectives for the iPad Project included: 1) to establish and maintain communication with the Preceptor through the use of the iPad; 2) to increase the number of clinical evaluations of the Agency and Preceptor in a semester (by the Program Coordinator); 3) to increase the amount of verbal feedback the Preceptor is able to provide to the Program Coordinator; 4) to introduce “Apps for Healthcare Professionals”; 5) to enable the student to utilize the iPad for the “swivel effect” (where the practitioner flips the screen around to explain something to their patients); 6) to enable the student to document their clinical encounters in Typhon, a student tracking system.

Summary Recommendations:  The first cohort of 12 FNP students utilized the iPads in their clinical practicums for 11 months (during the 2013-2014 academic years) with positive feedback.  The iPad Project has proven to be a valuable tool in assisting the partnership between primary care preceptors (located in a 150 mile radius of the School) and faculty.  In Cohort 2, consisting of 26 students, iPads were distributed for use through July, 2015. The clinical sites utilized include rural Family Practice clinics in following states and cities: Arkansas: Gravette; Kansas: Chanute, Parsons, Iola, Lawrence, Pittsburg, Ft Scott, Olathe, Coffeyville and Baxter Springs; Missouri: Nevada, Lamar, Joplin, Neosho and Carl Junction; and Oklahoma: Bartlesville and Grove. Through the use of "Face Time", the iPads will continue to be utilized to communicate with the students and their preceptors in these Health Professional Shortage Areas. As an ongoing effort to conserve on gas mileage expenditures, the face-to-face clinical site visits are made just one time a semester (as opposed to the traditional two site visits per semester). This method of communication was utilized this past school year and proved to be very beneficial in strengthening the bonds between the preceptors and the PSU/SON Family Nurse Practitioner Coordinator. Additionally, the additional contact with the preceptor allows for a more thorough assessment of the student's clinical abilities as they progress through the program.