University of Saskatchewan
IN-25: Innovation B

The College of Nursing at the University of Saskatchewan is committed to a "learn where you live" philosophy. Evidence of this is its distributed undergraduate Bachelor of Science in Nursing program which uses unique and innovative technology to support teaching and learning in remote areas of the province using technologies such as video and web conferencing, mobile devices, asynchronous and hybrid learning environments and Remote Presence Telementoring.

The Learn where you Live education initiative helps to advance a number of Aboriginal and northern health priorities that contribute to the province's social sustainability and economic sustainability through improved population health.

First, it makes health education, specifically a nursing degree, much more accessible to northerners, while reducing the cost of delivering that education. Northern students are able to live and study in or close to their home communities, reducing financial and social barriers to getting a university education and improving their chances for success.

Second, it trains northern and Aboriginal residents in areas with an acute shortage of health care professionals, making it more likely they will practice in those communities, minimizing prospects for turnover and improving the cultural appropriateness of care. In addition, existing local nurses are involved in many aspects of the nursing education, increasing the capacity of the local health system and providing new opportunities for local leadership and input.

Third, incoming practitioners are fully immersed in the use and practice of the remote presence technology. It is difficult and expensive to train rural and remote nurses in new technologies, as they have limited time to engage in professional development and there are rarely relief nurses to cover their regular work load and demands. By training nursing students with the remote presence technology, they will be uniquely qualified to practice with it when they become registered nurses. It will also empower northern-trained nurses as they will be at the forefront, not a passive recipient, of developing new uses for this promising technology

A shortage of health professionals in rural and remote areas is a universal challenge for global health. The best strategy for developing a rural and remote health workforce is by educating rural and remote students where they live. While distance education has been around for decades, developing clinical skills had to be done in person, on campus. Remote Presence (RP) technology could help to change this. By way of example the Dean of Nursing, Dr. Lorna Butler, has been creating partnerships with the North Eastern Federal University College of Nursing in Yakutsk, a remote city in Eastern Siberia and the Philippines to introduce the use of for the delivery of nursing education. In addition, Continuing Education and Development for Nurses (CEDN) has been collaborating with Dean Butler to help build opportunities to provide continuing nursing education around the world using this technology. Similarly, other potential RP initiatives include nursing in remote mines, circumpolar nursing education, municipal and provincial corrections, diabetes screening through remote optical retinopathy, nurse practitioner clinic service hub.

The Remote Presence (RP) technology allows nursing students in rural and remote communities to be connected to faculty located at the three U of S College of Nursing urban campuses in Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert. The Remote Presence Technology system was designed for clinical practice and has been used predominantly in neurosurgery and for establishing Stroke Networks in the United States. The College of Nursing is the first, along with the US military, to extend the application to nursing education in the health sciences. A network of independently mobile robot endpoints and authorized faculty users are located around the province. Users connect to the endpoints connected over regular broadband or cellular internet from a control station enabled device such as a computer, laptop, or tablet. The In-touch VITA is about 5 feet tall with a built-in flat-screen monitor on top. A number of medical devices can be accommodated to enhance the versatility and functionality of the units and are essential for use in the clinical skills component of the BSN program and professional healthcare practice (e.g. electronic ECGs, ultrasound, intra-oral camera, otoscope, ophthalmoscope, stethoscope and other peripherals). High precision cameras capture images of the students in a practice environment that are transmitted to the professor. When in use, the professor’s face is displayed on the robot’s monitor. The monitor can also display pre-planned images or videos as well as real time captures from the camera(s). The remote presence platform allows faculty experts to engage with learners at remote sites to educate and assess clinical competencies, essentially being in two places at one time.

The robots are located in the Northlands College Nursing Skills Lab in Air Ronge, the Keewatin Yatthe Regional Health Authority at St. Joseph's Hospital and Health Centre in Ile-a-la-Crosse, and at the Yorkton Regional Health Centre. These Saskatchewan communities are the first in Canada using this innovative technology for nursing education.

Attention: draft description subject to change and dummy letter of affirmation.