Impact of Sleep Telementorship in Primary Care: Sleep VA-ECHO (Veterans Affairs-Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes)

Abstract

Sleep VA-ECHO (Veterans Affairs–Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) is a national telementorship program intended to improve knowledge about sleep disorders among non-specialty providers. The project goal was to describe the characteristics of Sleep VA-ECHO participants from primary care and their use of program-obtained knowledge in practice. Sleep VA-ECHO consisted of 10 voluntary, 75-min teleconference sessions combining didactics and case discussion. Out of 86 participants, 21 self-identified as primary care team members and completed a program evaluation. Participants self-reported their application of knowledge gained, including changes to practice as a result of program participation. These 21 participants represented 18 sites in 11 states and attended a median of 5.0 sessions. They included physicians (29%), nurse practitioners (24%), and registered nurses (24%). Nearly all participants (95%) reported using acquired knowledge to care for their own patients at least once a month; 67% shared knowledge with colleagues at least once a month. Eighty-five percent reported improved quality of sleep care for their patients, and 76% reported an expanded clinical skillset. The greatest self-reported change in practice occurred in patient education about sleep disorders (95%) and non-pharmacologic management of insomnia (81%).

Direct and Indirect Effects of a Project ECHO Longitudinal Clinical Tele-Mentoring Program on Viral Suppression for Persons With HIV: A Population-Based Analysis

“…Qualitative assessments of provider measures consistently demonstrate improvements in reported self-efficacy, knowledge, and professional satisfaction. 17,18,35,[37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48] A smaller number of studies have documented that Project ECHO leads to reduced time to specialist consultation, distance to care, emergency department visits, hospital admissions, and health care costs. 20,21,23,27,48 However, relatively few studies have evaluated Project ECHO's impact on patient-level clinical outcomes.…”