Schools across the United States are starting to partner with healthcare facilities and telehealth services to provide students, as well as staff, with much-needed healthcare services. With many schools lacking access to adequate healthcare facilities, telehealth is helping to fill the void by providing students with virtual access to primary and chronic healthcare services via an online telehealth portal. Telehealth also provides access to mental health services that are helping to address the surge in behavioral and mental health issues increasingly seen in students since the pandemic.
Students need to be healthy in order for them to thrive at school. They also need to be able to focus, without any mental blocks. Consequently, healthcare has always been an important offering in schools. The National Association of School Nurses (NASN) recommends that students have access to a full-time registered nurse while they are at school. However, only 39% of schools across the country employ a full-time school nurse, and only 35% employ a part-time school nurse. In some rural communities, access to a school nurse is even lower. For many schools, this is limited to a member of the staff with basic medical training. By tapping into online telehealth services, the level of care can now be expanded to include primary and chronic health care, as well as behavioral and mental health services.
Telehealth in the school system offers several benefits to both students and staff. It can reduce the number of days that students and staff are not in school due to poor health. In addition, it can boost concentration, thereby improving academic performance, while also improving overall health and well-being. In many rural and impoverished communities, telehealth services offered at schools may be the only opportunity to access healthcare services for some students whose parents are unable to afford healthcare or who are simply unable to travel long distances to seek medical care.
Telehealth eCare School Health Service
Avera Health, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and the Helmsley Charitable Trust recently partnered to provide virtual nursing programs in schools in underserved communities to address the disparities in access to healthcare in schools. The initial pilot project, known as the eCare School Health T1D Demonstration Project, was launched by Avel eCare in collaboration with Avera Health and aims to provide virtual healthcare services to students with Type 1 diabetes in 100 schools across several states.
eCare School Health provides schools with access to experienced school nurses via a live audio-visual telecommunication network. Registered nurses are able to assist school staff by offering students with acute or chronic health issues the care that they need. Whether it’s treating asthma, an allergy, a head injury, or more chronic conditions such as diabetes, Avel eCare is able to provide immediate medical assistance, assess students’ health needs, and provide staff with the medical support they need to ensure the well-being of their students. During the 2020-2021 school year, eCare School Health conducted over 6,300 telehealth visits via video link, providing medical assistance to 50 schools in South Dakota, North Dakota, and Iowa.
The infrastructure and technology required to conduct a telehealth visit are relatively simple. All that’s needed is a small private space, and a computer, laptop, or device capable of establishing an audio-visual connection with the telehealth service provider. The Avel eCare School Health program uses a device developed by Tyto Care to record vital signs and other biometric information during the online consultation.
According to eCare School Health director Sheila Freed, a registered nurse with more than 20 years of experience, most rural schools don’t have a school nurse, can’t afford to employ one, and wouldn’t be able to find one even if they could afford to hire one.
“There’s a huge gap there that someone has to fill,” she says. “Some nurses are driving from school to school, maybe 60 to 100 miles a day, and they’re spending more time behind a windshield than with a student.”
The Avel eCare School Health program operates as a central cog in the wheel, providing healthcare services to a network of schools from a central point. They set up the program and train a staff member at each school on how to use the technology.
For students living with diabetes, telehealth can serve as a vital resource and lifeline to help students and their families to better understand the condition and how to manage it best.
But while the program’s main focus is on diabetes, it’s not the only health issue they treat. Their long-term goal is to prove that telehealth can feasibly treat most health issues. For schools located in remote and rural areas that lack access to traditional forms of healthcare, it can help to bridge a vital healthcare gap.
Offering Mental Health Services in Schools
Besides having to deal with acute and chronic health conditions, thousands of students also have to deal with mental health challenges. According to a recent public health report, among more than 284,000 schoolchildren with major depression, only a third of whom are receiving treatment. Telehealth has proven beneficial for addressing the growing need for better access to behavioral and mental health care services in schools. In Los Angeles, the education department has partnered with tele-mental health service provider Hazel Health to provide mental health care services to over a million students from kindergarten to 12th grade. It is hoped that by removing the barriers that limit access to mental health care, we can address some of the devastating effects that the pandemic has had on children’s mental health.
Considering that both physical and mental well-being are essential for effective teaching and learning, offering telehealth services at schools can not only go a long way toward improving the physical and mental health of students, but it could have a positive impact on their academic performance, too.