Preparing & Transitioning Students to Telehealth Clinical Hours in Graduate Education

Dr. Carolyn Rutledge is Professor and Associate Chair of the School of Nursing at Old Dominion University (ODU). She is the director of the online Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program at ODU, which ranks 15thin the nation. In addition to her academic role at ODU, Dr. Rutledge holds the position of Professor of Family Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School where she has maintained an active clinical practice for the past 32 years and served in a faculty role for the medical school, family practice residency, and faculty development. Dr. Rutledge has published over 55 articles and served as an investigator on 28 successful grant applications totaling over $18 million with a primary focus on utilizing new models of care such as telehealth to provide care to rural and underserved populations. Since 2010, Dr. Rutledge has focused on improving the way healthcare is delivered in remote areas using telehealth to enhance patient care and communication. She was the lead in developing the NONPF position paper on educating Nurse Practitioners in telehealth. She is a sought-after national consultant in the area of telehealth education and has a book, “Telehealth Essentials for Advanced Practice Nursing” in press. She is currently serving as the Academic Director of the Center for Telehealth Innovation, Education, and Research (C-TIER) at ODU. In 2014, Dr. Rutledge received the SCHEV Outstanding Faculty Award, the highest honor provided to faculty in Virginia.

Dr. Gustin has over 35-years of advanced practice nursing experience. She is currently an Assistant Professor at Old Dominion University (ODU) School of Nursing where she teaches in the Doctor of Nursing Practice Program. Her most recent appointment was as the Director of the school’s Center for Telehealth Innovation, Education, and Research (C-TIER). The center serves as a telehealth learning hub and research center not only for the state but also the East Coast Region of the United States. She is the clinical manager for the Pediatric Telehealth program at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk Virginia. Dr. Gustin has been responsible for the development of this new program and assuring clinical competence of the telehealth providers. She is the PI and Co-PI for several Health and Human Services Administration (HRSA) grants totally over 6 million dollars. These grants have aimed at reaching the rural and underserved though telehealth and interprofessional collaboration. Dr. Gustin has extensively published and presented on both interprofessional team-based care and preparing providers for telehealth both nationally and internationally. She served on the American Nurses Association task force for technology and was most recently elected to the Center for Telehealth and eHealth Law (CTeL) Advisory Board, she is currently chairing the Telehealth Education Task for CTeL. She has been invited to several nursing and medical schools to assist in the development of a telehealth curriculum and to present her work.