What are Virtual Rounds?

Expert led presentations, similar to hospital rounds, conducted via the internet and telephone. The goal of Virtual Rounds is to make current health information and resources accessible to health professionals in rural areas.

Virtual Rounds promote and support increased communication and learning among rural, often geographically isolated, Northern Wisconsin health professionals.

This program was originally funded by a National Library of Medicine grant and adopted by the UW Madison Medical School, Department of Family Medicine, Rural Training Track. Since that time the program has expanded and is currently offering presentations through a joint project of the Wisconsin AHEC and the WAFP.

How will health professionals benefit?

By attending a Virtual Round, health professionals will have

The Virtual Rounds program uses the technology of the internet to give rural health providers access to high-quality learning experiences. Presenters pick topics they have expertise in or a recent, interesting case and create a power point presentation. NAHEC posts the presentation on the web along with a date a time for a conference call.

To participate, attendees go to the designated URL on the web and dial into a conference call to listen to the audio portion of the presentation. Each presentation lasts approximately 45 minutes with a 15 minutes question and answer period.

To date, five virtual rounds have been attended by faculty, residents and other interested health professionals from over 7 difference geographic locations. Topics included:

Guidelines for presenters

1. Presentations should be case based to incorporate the idea of rounds done in a virtual way. Case studies are powerful teaching tools and tend to be preferred by health professionals.

2. Create a presentation in Power Point. If you do not have access to Power Point, you can create your presentation in Word and NAHEC will convert it to PowerPoint for you.

3. If you want to insert graphics and need technical assistance contact coordinator.

4. Time your presentation! Presentations should not exceed 45 minutes to allow 15 minutes for question and answers.

5. Send your presentation to the coordinator at least 3 days prior to the Virtual Round Day.
   
   During your presentation

6. Be on the conference call and have your browser open with the presentation at least 5 minutes before the start time.

7. Before starting your presentation try to get a general idea of who is on the line, if they have not already introduced themselves.

   • Ideas for how to do this include introducing yourself and then asking people to say "I" if they are from Northeast Wisconsin, Eastern Wisconsin, Southern Wisconsin or Northwest Wisconsin.

   • Another way to deal with this is to ask every time you hear a beep if that is someone new on the line and if they could introduce themselves.

8. Say the number of each slide as you advance to accommodate late comers and to keep your attendees moving forward with you.

Guidelines for attendees

1. Before phoning to the conference call be connected to the Internet and have your Microsoft Internet Explorer browser open to the presentation.

2. The presentation will always be at www.nahec-wi.org/VR.

3. The phone number to phone is 1-888-677-9189, or in Madison 316-0022; the code for the conference call is 1266. (This is sometimes subject to change.)

4. If you have Netscape Navigator as your browser the presentation will not work, find a computer with Internet Explorer.

5. If you get an error message when you try to open the presentation, keep trying.

6. If you phone in before anyone else you may get the message that there is no conference call with that code. This just means that no-one else has entered the conference call yet, just phone back in 2 minutes.

7. The ideal set up at your institution would be: