Innovative COVID-19 Programs to Rapidly Serve New Mexico: Project ECHO

Authors

Joanna G. Katzman, University of New Mexico’s Health Sciences Center and the ECHO Institute, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Laura E. Tomedi, University of New Mexico’s Health Sciences Center and the ECHO Institute, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Karla Thornton, University of New Mexico’s Health Sciences Center and the ECHO Institute, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Paige Menking, University of New Mexico’s Health Sciences Center and the ECHO Institute, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Michael Stanton, University of New Mexico’s Health Sciences Center and the ECHO Institute, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Nestor Sosa, University of New Mexico’s Health Sciences Center and the ECHO Institute, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Michelle Harkins, University of New Mexico’s Health Sciences Center and the ECHO Institute, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Neil Katzman, Harvard College, Cambridge, MA, USA
Jinyang Liu, University of New Mexico’s Health Sciences Center and the ECHO Institute, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Gaelyn RD Archer, University of New Mexico’s Health Sciences Center and the ECHO Institute, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Sanjeev Arora, University of New Mexico’s Health Sciences Center and the ECHO Institute, Albuquerque, NM, USA

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2021

Abstract

Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) at the University of New Mexico is a telementoring program that uses videoconferencing technology to connect health care providers in underserved communities with subject matter experts. In March 2020, Project ECHO created 10 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) telementoring programs to meet the public health needs of clinicians and teachers living in underserved rural and urban regions of New Mexico. The newly created COVID-19 programs include 7 weekly sessions (Community Health Worker [in English and Spanish], Critical Care, Education, First- Responder Resiliency, Infectious Disease Office Hours, and Multi- specialty) and 3 one- day special sessions. We calculated the total number of attendees, along with the range and standard deviation, per session by program. Certain programs (Critical Care, Infectious Disease Office Hours, Multi- specialty) recorded the profession of attendees when available. The Project ECHO research team collected COVID-19 infection data by county from March 11 through May 31, 2020. During that same period, 9765 health care and general education professionals participated in the COVID-19 programs, and participants from 31 of 35 (89%) counties in New Mexico attended the sessions. Our initial evaluation of these programs demonstrates that an interprofessional clinician group and teachers used the Project ECHO network to build a community of practice and social network while meeting their educational and professional needs. Because of Project ECHO’s large reach, the results of the New Mexico COVID-19 response suggest that the rapid use of ECHO telementoring could be used for other urgent national public health problems.

Recommended Citation

Katzman, J. G., & Katzman, J. W. Primary care clinicians as COVID-19 vaccine ambassadors. Journal of Primary Care & Community Health. 2021; 12. Epub ahead of print. 21501327211007026. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0033354920969180.