A Randomized Study Using Telepresence Robots For Behavioral Health In Interprofessional Practice And Education

Background:The events of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic forced the world to adopt telemedicine frameworks to comply with isolation and stay-at-home regulations. Telemedicine, in various forms, has been used by patients and medical professionals for quite some time, especially telepsychiatry. To examine the efficacy and role of telesimulation as a method to educate health sciences students via telepresence robots. The study recruited students from the above health science disciplines. All participants were trained to administer a contextual interview to a standardized patient (SP) for mental health concerns. Methods:The completion of the contextual interview observation form adult (CIOF-A), National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index, self-efficacy in patient centeredness questionnaire (SEPCQ), and communication skills attitude scale with or without a telepresence robot. All participants completed baseline metrics and were trained to conduct a contextual interview to an SP. Researchers block-randomized the participants to either the telepresence robot group (TP) or in-person (IP) group. Results:The study recruitedn = 43 participants to the IP group (n = 21) or TP group (n = 22). Mean participant demographics of age were 25.3 (+/- 1.9) years in the IP group and 24.3 (+/- 2.1) years for the TP group. Mean and standard deviation scores with effect sizes in CIOF-A scores IP: 0.05 (+/- 1.91) and TP: -0.45 (+/- 1.71), Cohen'sd = 0.28; SEPCQ-Patient Domain scores IP: 0.42 (+/- 4.69) and TP: 0.50 (+/- 7.18), Cohen'sd = 0.01; change in SEPCQ-Sharing Domain scores IP: 0.53 (+/- 5.10) and TP: 0.91 (+/- 9.98), Cohen'sd = 0.05. These effect sizes will inform future studies and appropriate sample sizes. Conclusion:These data indicate that health sciences students utilizing a telepresence robot in an SP scenario to perform a behavioral health screening felt as comfortable and competent as those health sciences students performing the same behavioral health screening in person.ClinicalTrials.govIdentifier: NCT03661372.