Arizona Telemedicine Training Program Accredited by American Telemedicine Association

The UA’s pioneering program in telemedicine training is one of only two in the United States to be accredited by the American Telemedicine Association.

By Jean Spinelli, AHSC Office of Public Affairs
June 16, 2009

The Arizona Telemedicine Program's Training Program  a leader in telemedicine and telehealth training  is one of the first training programs in the United States to be accredited by the American Telemedicine Association, known as ATA.

The association, the largest telemedicine organization in the world, established its first-of-a-kind certification program earlier this year.

The Arizona Telemedicine Program, at The University of Arizona and the University of California-Davis Telehealth Program are the first two programs ever to complete the certification process and were recognized during the ATA's annual meeting.

Telemedicine allows the diagnosis and treatment of patients using medical information and images transmitted electronically over long distances.

The ATP Training Program provides information, instruction and ongoing training in all aspects of running a telemedicine program, including clinical applications, telecommunications infrastructure development and operations, distance education, evaluation and business and administration.         

"Interest in telemedicine is mushrooming worldwide and Arizona is a leader in the field. Accreditation by the ATA is important recognition of the high quality of the ATP's training programs. Their recognition and co-branding of our training programs will help us market our training programs throughout the United States and internationally," said Dr. Ronald S. Weinstein, ATP founding director.

The association established its accreditation program to ensure that telemedicine, telehealth and e-health training programs  in the United States and other countries  meet high standards of quality in terms of content, methods and resources, and also to provide formal recognition of training programs that meet such standards.

"The Arizona Telemedicine Program's Training Program helps to improve health care in Arizona's rural and urban communities by preparing health care professionals to establish and operate telemedicine programs. Its training programs also bring healthcare workers up-to-date on the latest advances in telehealth and e-health, including the uses of electronic medical records for telemedicine applications," Weinstein said.

Currently, the ATP offers monthly one- and two-day training courses in both Tucson and Phoenix. Trainers for the courses are located in either of the ATP's videoconferencing facilities  at the UA's Arizona Health Sciences Center in Tucson or at the ATP's Institute for Advanced Telemedicine and Telehealth at the UA College of Medicine  Phoenix in partnership with ASU.

The two campuses are linked by videoconferencing so that training sessions can be given simultaneously on both campuses. To date, 650 health care workers from more than 60 independent health care organizations have attended these training programs.

"We anticipate that as we expand our ATP training for physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other health care workers into additional areas such as electronic health records, our training programs will grow dramatically over the next decade. Arizona is well-positioned to be a leader in the education of physicians about electronic health records and their implementation in doctors' offices," he added.

The ATP has received seven national awards for innovations in distance education and training including Computerworld's 2008 top award for innovation in the education and academia category.

In recent years, word-of-mouth advertising has been attracting more trainees from other states, as well as a growing number of international participants. "The ATP brand has a high profile in the telemedicine world," said Weinstein. "We will begin to market our training programs nationally and internationally this year. We also plan to add educational programs on electronic health records in the near future."           

"ATP is in the process of producing its training programs in Spanish and also plans to produce them in other languages, including Navajo," said Weinstein. "The training sessions are being digitally recorded so that telemedicine training can be offered over the Internet." 

Weinstein presented a beta version DVD of telemedicine training sessions recorded in Spanish at the ATA annual meeting. This was received enthusiastically by Spanish-speaking physicians attending the meeting.

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