After telemedicine was implemented, the researchers found that students in grades 3-8 who had access to telemedicine at school missed on average 10 percent fewer days of school (.8 days in a typical school year) and were 29 percent less likely to become chronically absent, than before the schools implemented telehealth.
Education Week (edweek.org)
STUDENT WELL-BEING WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS
By Sarah D. Sparks — January 13, 2023
Schools’ use of telehealth services expanded during the pandemic, and emerging research suggests it could help reduce chronic absenteeism.
Researchers from Duke University and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill tracked student absenteeism in three rural school districts—McDowell, Mitchell, and Yancey County Schools—in North Carolina as the nonprofit Center for Rural Health Innovation rolled out 22 school-based telehealth clinics, serving students, from 2011-12 to 2017-18. Through the clinics, school nurses partnered with physicians via live video appointments to help students with both physical and mental health issues. The doctors could review test results and call in prescriptions.
Read article: Telemedicine Could Help Keep Kids in Class (edweek.org)
