LAUSR

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a significant impact on southern rural communities and requires an interdisciplinary workforce prepared to address the unique and holistic needs of people in these communities. Telehealth, long used to improve services for people living in rural areas, has rapidly and significantly expanded because of COVID-19. There is an urgent need to train health professions students in telehealth skills to prepare them to deliver virtual care, especially in rural communities. As universities quickly moved to online instruction in 2020, student telehealth training models were needed that can be delivered virtually. Ideally, this training should be interprofessional, with two or more health science disciplines learning about, from, and with one another. An interprofessional education (IPE) approach best meets the multifaceted biopsychosocial needs of southern rural communities and is now an accreditation requirement for most health professions programs. We piloted a model for online telehealth IPE in southeastern rural communities. Our lessons learned are a springboard for other universities to fulfill their obligations to meet the demands of healthcare systems and virtually prepare an interdisciplinary workforce to be proficient in telehealth and help southern rural communities during COVID-19 and beyond.