What is the RTEC?
The Decker School of Nursing (one of the schools within Binghamton University's Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences) has a strong history of preparing nurse practitioners to serve in rural areas. Through funding received from the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) Advanced Nurse Education Workforce (ANEW) grant, the Decker School has developed an innovative academic-practice partnership model to prepare primary care nurse practitioners to work in rural and underserved areas while simultaneously initiating the Rural Telehealth Educational Consortium (RTEC).
The project addresses the health profession shortage in rural south-central and northern counties of New York and northern Pennsylvania and aims to provide a formal networking mechanism among healthcare organizations providing telehealth services.
The Decker School of Nursing collaborates with other HRSA-funded entities to collect data on national telehealth education trends.
Our Purpose
The purpose of the Rural Telehealth Educational Consortium is to:
- Convene rural health partners to discuss the promotion of telehealth initiatives through innovative educational models
- Provide input in developing a 45-hour microcredential available to partners and students to provide telehealth skills and competencies
- Increase the number of healthcare professionals/educators trained in the use of telehealth and telemedicine modalities through college/university programs and in the healthcare community
- Strengthen the capacity for healthcare education and workforce training using telehealth technology in rural and underserved areas
- Partner with national and regional stakeholders to generate telehealth data and remote monitoring that contribute to improving healthcare outcomes
