PediaLink Course: Providing Telehealth and Distant Care Services in Pediatrics

This is a six-part PediaLink course series on supporting pediatric health care professionals in providing telehealth and distant care services as part of the medical home model of care. Learners can complete all six topics or pick and choose whichever modules they would like to complete based on their own needs and current knowledge.

The purpose of this PediaLink course is to educate pediatric health care professionals on how to increase their pediatric team capacity in providing preventive, acute, and chronic care via telehealth for children and adolescents. Three of the six modules are specifically focused on enhancing telehealth care for children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN), including children and youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental disabilities (DD), and children with medical complexity within a medical home. 

The course is free to the general public, including non-AAP members. Learners will only be required to create an AAP login (if they don’t already have one) to obtain access to the course.

See below for a list of learning objectives for each module. Note: Course does not offer CME credit. Certificate for completion not provided/available.

Click on the title below to access the PediaLink course: 

Providing Telehealth and Distant Care Services in Pediatrics

Unit 1: Getting Started: Establishing a Pediatric Telehealth Team

• Create an effective and collaborative telehealth team.
• Select appropriate responsibilities for key roles on a telehealth team.
• Describe techniques to adapt practice workflow for telehealth visits.
• Explain how to ensure continuity of care.

Unit 2: Provider to Patient: How to Conduct a Telehealth Visit

• Explain how to navigate different types of technologies for implementation of telehealth visits.
• Describe situations when hybrid models of telehealth may be appropriate for providing care.
• Describe three strategies to effectively engage families before and during telehealth visits.
• Describe three strategies to build family/professional partnerships via telehealth visits.

Unit 3: Ensuring Privacy and Confidentiality During Telehealth Visits

• Describe privacy and confidentiality considerations for providers.
• Describe privacy and confidentiality considerations for patients and families/caregivers.

Unit 4: Primer: How Do I Prepare My Practice for a Telehealth Visit for CYSHCN?

• Explain how to navigate different types of technologies for implementing telehealth visits for CYSHCN and their families/caregivers.
• Describe situations when blended/hybrid models may be necessary to provide care for CYSHCN and their families/caregivers.
• Describe techniques to adapt practices (including privacy/confidentiality considerations) and scheduling workflow for telehealth visits for CYSHCN and their families/caregivers.

Unit 5: Telehealth 101: How Do I Use Telehealth to Optimize Chronic, Acute, and/or Preventive Care for CYSHCN?

• Explain how to successfully conduct a chronic, acute, and preventive care visit for CYSHCN.
• Describe at least three strategies to prepare families/caregivers of CYSHCN prior to a telehealth visit.
• Identify at least three techniques to facilitate family engagement and family/professional partnerships during telehealth visits for CYSHCN.

Unit 6: It Takes a Village: How to Use Telehealth Across Diverse Care Settings for CYSHCN

• Describe at least three strategies for using telehealth to support successful transition and care coordination across care settings (hospital, specialists, home care, congregate care, school-based health care) for CYSHCN.
• Describe strategies for using telehealth to facilitate optimal home care for children with medical complexity.
• Explain the role of telehealth in increasing access to care for CYSHCN living in congregate care settings.

This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $6,000,000 with no percentage financed with nongovernmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.