Stakeholder Perceptions of the Use of a Rapidly Deployed Modified ECHO to Train and Prepare Healthcare Providers for COVID-19

Journal of Public Health Research (09/28/22) Casanova, Madeline P.; Blades, Kayla C.; Palmer, Kathleen; et al.

Researchers evaluated how participants perceived a rapidly deployed and modified tele-education program to improve healthcare providers' readiness for COVID-19 in rural Idaho. The authors invited the participation of primary care providers and healthcare stakeholders in the ECHO Idaho Infectious Disease COVID-19 session in March 2020. Multiple experts guided the session via Zoom, presenting didactic lectures and question and answer/discussions. The content was designed to improve emergency preparedness and patient treatment based on available evidence and knowledge from other states' COVID-19 experiences, while delivering information on testing and available resources in Idaho. The material covered understanding clinical care basics under pandemic conditions, long-term and post-acute care environment attributes pertaining to all clinical care delivered during the pandemic, clinical mitigation strategies and patient case discussion. Attendees qualified for free continuing medical education (CME) credit or a certificate of completion. Respondents to a post-session survey that met CME criteria said the program boosted their COVID-19 knowledge and would augment their clinical practice and preparedness. They also expressed satisfaction with the session and favored the didactic content, interdisciplinary collaboration and format. Obstacles they mentioned included time constraints and a dearth of content relevance and clinical applicability. "An established Project ECHO network may be a useful tool for rapidly exchanging knowledge and accurate information between public health experts and healthcare providers in rural areas during a health emergency," the authors conclude.

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