1. Official Powered by VitalTalk course

Official Powered by VitalTalk courses are any independently organized, virtual or face-to-face, serious illness communication courses that:

  • Follow the general method of the VitalTalk facilitation map;
  • Contain communication role play with at least one simulated patient;
  • Culminate in a minimum of 3 hours of education content when all learning time is combined;

Official Powered by VitalTalk courses qualify as a prerequisite course for Faculty Development and should be reported to VitalTalk through Impact Tracker. All such courses must use the Powered by VitalTalk logo.

  • Course Learners: Powered by VitalTalk courses should be taught exclusively to clinicians from the home institution/institutions of the VitalTalk faculty who are teaching at the course. 
    • Definitions:
      • Clinician: any health care provider having direct contact with, and responsibility for, patient care.
      • Home Institution: hospitals, medical centers, or other facilities where licensed VitalTalk Faculty are an employee or independent contractor.
  • Faculty Partnerships: VitalTalk faculty can partner with other licensed VitalTalk faculty to teach Powered by VitalTalk courses regardless of home institution.
  • Restrictions: Under no circumstances should:
    • VitalTalk faculty approach institutions outside their home institution to teach a Powered By VitalTalk course. 
    • VitalTalk faculty advertise courses to the general public without prior explicit written permission from VitalTalk.
  • Approval process for special circumstance courses:

VitalTalk faculty should seek prior explicit written permission from VitalTalk for courses/projects that involve the following circumstances:

    • External Funding: If you intend to approach a funder/sponsor outside of your home institution to support a course, you must submit a formal written request to VitalTalk outlining your project and funding details prior to applying for funds.
    • Clinicians from outside home institutions: if you intend to teach clinicians from institutions outside of faculty home institutions (e.g. pre-conference event, inviting individual clinicians from outside faculty’s home institutions, etc.) you must submit a formal written request to VitalTalk outlining your course and learner details. 

For all special circumstance courses VitalTalk reserves the right to review and approve the request and may require a fee for use of VitalTalk licensed intellectual property, VitalTalk staff support, or additional services. VitalTalk reserves to the right to refuse any request.

  • Materials and Intellectual Property: Only licensed VitalTalk faculty members may teach courses or otherwise utilize the VitalTalk intellectual property, including but not limited to materials contained on VitalTalk Backstage. Please do not share non-public materials with people other than course participants and other licensed VitalTalk faculty.
  • Branding: The Powered by VitalTalk logo should be used on all adapted course materials. You may also use your own branding provided it does not confuse ownership of the intellectual property or core brand positioning of VitalTalk. Please see course naming convention guidelines on Backstage.
  • Revenue/Fees: You may charge tuition to cover the expenses of offering a Powered by VitalTalk course. However, you or your institution may not profit through offering a Powered by VitalTalk course.
  • Tracking your impact: In order to celebrate your accomplishments and measure VitalTalk’s effectiveness, we ask that licensed faculty report their Powered By VitalTalk course information shortly after the course is completed. This is done through the Track Your Impact button on Backstage.
  1. Other courses adapted from VitalTalk materials

VitalTalk recognizes that faculty sometimes teach using VitalTalk licensed materials outside of the official Powered By VitalTalk course format.  Whenever using VitalTalk licensed materials you must include attribution to VitalTalk and follow the general VitalTalk license policies as outlined above.  

Examples of other VitalTalk course formats:

  • Drill-based courses are any independently organized virtual or face-to-face serious illness communication courses which use drills without simulated patient role play.
  • Lecture-based courses are any independently organized virtual or face-to-face serious illness communication courses which offer content in didactic format without drills or simulated patient role play.

Powered by VitalTalk courses following these other formats DO NOT qualify as a prerequisite course for Faculty Development, but still must use the Powered by VitalTalk logo.

If you have any further questions or need additional clarifications on VitalTalk faculty license policies email us at info@vitaltalk.org.