Telenursing: supporting tool for the distance continuing education process

Abstract

This papers reports the experience at the Telenursing Project, developed by the Nursing School of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) as integrating part of the BHTelehealth Project, in partnership with Belo Horizonte City Department of Health and with the National Telehealth Project, promoted by the Ministry of Health. It aims to develop distance training activities for nursing teams working at primary health care units in Belo Horizonte and in the state of Minas Gerais and for the teaching staff and students at the Nursing School of UFMG. It has a twofold purpose because it works on theme teleconsultation and videoconference. Videoconferences deal with the topics chosen by the community from the daily practice doubts. Teleconsultations can be done online or offline, through the site of Minas Gerais Telehealth Center, where professionals of the service units send a consultation for the teleconsultant, who registers his/her opinion on the system itself and sends it back to the professional who asked the question. Results show that the goal of the project was achieved due to the relevant participation of professionals in videoconferences, the impact of teleconsultations on the assistance process and even a closer interaction between the academic world and health care services, enabling the exchange of knowledge in a proposal that integrates professional training and practice.