Telementoring Opens Virtual Doors to Provider Learning, Expert Support

Military Health System (10/28/22) Sanchez-Bustamante, Claudia

The Defense Health Agency's (DHA) telementoring programs can help healthcare providers connect, learn and support each other about pain management. The ECHO Program for Pain is designed "to bring subject matter experts and healthcare providers together via videoconferencing to learn and share knowledge," said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Jennifer Varney, chief of DHA's Pain Management Clinical Support Service. The program employs a "hub-and-spoke" framework, with eight hubs at strategic interdisciplinary pain clinics throughout the Military Health System. "Healthcare providers ... can utilize the ECHO hub sessions convenient for them," explained Varney. "The sessions allow for the subject matter experts to provide a continuing medical education learning activity as well as a case study of a patient who may benefit from the interdisciplinary presentation." Telementoring efforts are particularly relevant for beneficiaries and providers in remote areas, where a referral to a pain specialist may be impossible or delayed. Varney said ECHO "offers timely case-specific knowledge and opportunities for learning and promotion of best practices."

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