North Dakota MED Net II

University Of North Dakota, Grand Forks ND

Investigators

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The North Dakota MED Net II project (Medical Education and Distance Learning via the Internet) seeks to provide broadband Internet access to nine very small, rural healthcare facilities affiliated with the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences. A 512K digital subscriber line (DSL) will be installed in each of these facilities. Training on use of the Internet and on access to library resources will be provided to these nine institutions, and to an additional seven institutions that currently have Internet access. This project builds upon an earlier project, the MED Net Rural Utilities Project, which is currently placing computer and video-conferencing equipment in these facilities. The specific objectives for the North Dakota MED Net II project are: 1) To provide medical and allied health students completing clinical rotations in small, rural healthcare facilities with high-speed Internet access for Internet-based health information resources, library resources, e-mail, and educational teleconferencing; 2) To provide physicians and healthcare professionals, especially those acting as preceptors, at rural healthcare institutions, with high-speed Internet access to Internet-based health information, library resources, e-mail and teleconferencing for continuing education, teaching and patient care purposes; 3) To enhance and expand degreed programs, individual course offerings, and continuing education programs to persons in rural communities in North Dakota; 4. To empower health professionals and students, through education and training, to incorporate state of-the-art information technology into clinical information-seeking behaviors; 5. To empower health professionals and students to integrate Internet-based information resources and communication tools into their educational experience, clinical practice, and life-long learning opportunities, and 6) To encourage the incorporation of the goals of Healthy People 2010 by the elimination of existing disparities of Internet availability in rural North Dakota. This will allow for the promotion of the stated goals of increasing the quality and years of healthy life in the rural populations of North Dakota.