Innovative telementoring for pain management: project ECHO pain

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Pain Management
• Telehealth

Background:

• Project ECHO Pain, established in 2009, addresses critical gaps in pain management expertise.
• It offers continuing education to clinicians in rural and underserved areas via telehealth.
• The program utilizes case-based learning, demonstrations, and didactics for interprofessional teams.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of the Project ECHO Pain telementoring program.
• To assess improvements in pain management knowledge, skills, and clinical practice.
• To determine the program's impact on interprofessional collaborative practice.

Main Methods:

• Program evaluation over 3 years using CME surveys.
• Aggregation of annual clinic data.
• Assessment of practice change in clinicians with at least 1 year of participation.

Main Results:

• 136 clinics held, with 3835 participations from 763 unique individuals across 191 sites.
• 60% of participants were advanced practice or non-physician health professionals.
• Statistically significant improvements in self-reported knowledge, skills, and practice were observed; focus groups confirmed practice enhancements.

Conclusions:

• Project ECHO Pain is a successful continuing professional development program.
• The telementoring model effectively closes pain education knowledge gaps in primary care.
• It serves as a model for interprofessional collaborative practice and evidence-based education.