UCSF

ABSTRACT: Objective: The Veterans Health Administration (VA) uses e-screening surveys to request information from Veterans before appointments, and VA Video Connect (VVC) readiness calls to ensure that Veterans can attend appointments virtually. Providers and staff face challenges in working with Veterans to complete e-screenings and VVC readiness calls. For example, in 2023, VA’s Sleep Clinical Resource Hub completed 20% of e-screenings. Team leaders therefore asked UCSF’s Patient Support Corps (PSC) to deploy student interns who could help with e-screenings and VVC readiness calls. PSC is a four-year co-op internship where pre-health college students earn academic credit while gaining experience and serving patients. Eighty percent of PSC students are from underrepresented populations, thereby extending the cultural and linguistic competency of the workforce. Study Design: In March 2024, PSC signed a Trainee Qualifications and Credentials Verification Letter with VA, designating three undergraduate student interns as Health Professions Trainees (HPTs). As HPTs, students gained access to VA clinical systems including the electronic health record and VVC telehealth system. Nurses tasked interns with administering e-screenings by email or by telephone, as well as conducting VVC readiness calls, for veterans undergoing sleep apnea evaluations. We audited program records between 7/23/24 and 2/13/25, to evaluate the reach of intern VVC readiness calls; and also evaluated the reach of intern e-screenings between 1/2/25 and 2/13/25. Principal Findings: Between 7/23/24 and 2/13/25, VA nurses assigned 90 VVC readiness calls to interns, who reached 66 (73%) of these Veterans. Between 1/2/25 and 2/13/25, interns initiated 313 e-screenings, and Veterans completed 168 (54%), representing an increase in completion rate when compared to 20% in 2023. Implications: PSC is successfully deploying students to extend the TeleSleep workforce at VA. Student support for Veterans frees up providers and staff to “practice at the top of their training.” This implementation serves as a potential proof of concept for other clinical resource hubs or virtual care teams at VA.