Caring for the Caregivers: Improving Mental Health among Health Professionals Using the Behavioral Health Professional Workforce Resilience ECHO Program.

Behavioral health professionals are at high risk for burnout and poor mental health. Our objective was to understand the impact of the Behavioral Health Providers Workforce Resiliency (BHPWR) ECHO Program on the resilience and burnout of participating behavioral health professionals. We assessed the first two years (March 2022 to March 2024) of the BHPWR ECHO, a national program operating from the University of New Mexico (N = 1585 attendees), using a mixed-methods design.

When Climate Change Shows Up in the Exam Room.

Climate change is considered one of the greatest threats to humanity and the most significant global public health emergency of our lifetime. Millions of people from throughout the globe suffer and die each year from degraded air quality, extreme heat, water and vector-borne diseases as well as the mental health effects of climate change. Because clinicians are considered one of the most trusted sources of climate information, they have a unique opportunity to communicate the many health-related effects of climate change to their patients.

Climate Change ECHO: Telementoring to Improve Climate Literacy for Health Professionals.

Introduction: Climate change is a global public health crisis. Most clinicians and public health professionals do not receive adequate education to manage and communicate climate-related health impacts to their patients.

Methods: From July 2021 to February 2022, the Project ECHO Climate Change and Human Health program completed 22 weekly trainings for health professionals.

Evaluation and guide for embedding opioid use disorder education in health professions' curricula.

Background: Morbidity and mortality from Opioid Use Disorder is a health crisis in the United States. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a devastating increase of 38.4% in overdose deaths from the 12-month period leading up to June 2019 compared with the 12-month period leading up to May 2020, primarily driven by synthetic opioids.

Educating Community Health Professionals About the Health-Related Effects of Climate Change Through ECHO Telementoring.

Introduction: Climate change is a global public health emergency causing extensive morbidity and mortality worldwide. Although most large medical organizations endorse the need to train health care professionals in climate change, such trainings are not readily available.

Methods: This article describes the results of an 8-week, 75-min per week, Climate Change and Human Health ECHO (CCHH ECHO) synchronous telementoring course for post-licensure health professionals.

The project ECHO first responder resiliency program: curriculum development, listening groups and lessons learned to support providers virtually during a pandemic.

The First Responder (FR) Resilience ECHO Program continues as a virtual telementoring platform supporting FRs both within New Mexico and internationally. The program began initially to support FRs through the opioid epidemic, and as the COVID-19 pandemic grew, the curriculum and audience broadened to include self-care and resilience skills to participants around the world. The notion of a FR was changed as providers everywhere were facing new challenges in their front-facing experience, whether this be a sense of overwhelm, an experience of detachment or of overload.

Take-home Naloxone at Opioid Treatment Programs: A Lifesaver.

Opioid-related overdose deaths have increased almost 30% in the US since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Tragically, many of these deaths could be prevented with widespread availability of naloxone. One innocuous harm-reduction strategy would be the federal government mandating the provision of take-home naloxone and brief overdose education to patients at opioid treatment programs.

Climate Change and Human Health ECHO: Global Telementoring for Health Professionals.

Objective: To increase the knowledge and communication skills of health professionals related to climate change and human health (CCHH).

Methods: From February to April 2021, Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) created an 8-week, synchronous and virtual, CCHH ECHO telementoring series for health professionals. Didactics, simulated cases, and climate change tools were used to educate the interprofessional group of participants.

Educating health professionals about COVID-19 with ECHO telementoring.

Background: When the COVID-19 pandemic began, primary care clinicians had almost no knowledge regarding best practices COVID-19 treatment. Project ECHO developed a COVID-19 Infectious Disease Office Hours (Office Hours) program to respond to the needs of clinicians seeking COVID-19 information.

Methods: This mixed-methods evaluation analyzed weekly post-session data and focus group results from the weekly Office Hours ECHO sessions during June 1, 2020- May 31, 2021.

First Responder Resiliency ECHO: Innovative Telementoring during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The First Responder ECHO (Extension for Community Outcomes) program was established in 2019 to provide education for first responders on self-care techniques and resiliency while establishing a community of practice to alleviate the enormous stress due to trauma and substance misuse in the community. When the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic hit the United States (US) in March 2020, a tremendous strain was placed on first responders and healthcare workers, resulting in a program expansion to include stress mitigation strategies. From 31 March 2020, through 31 December 2020, 1530 unique first responders and frontline clinicians participated in the newly expanded First Responder Resiliency (FRR) ECHO.

Primary Care Clinicians as COVID-19 Vaccine Ambassadors.

The development of highly efficacious COVID-19 vaccines has brought a feeling of hope to many in the US (United States) and across the globe. However, it is estimated that approximately one-third of the US and international population are hesitant to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. For most Western countries with the economic means to purchase sufficient vaccine for their citizens, the medical community now has the opportunity to lead the vaccination communication campaign.

Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) Telementoring in the Military: Where We Are Now, Opportunities and Challenges.

Introduction: In collaboration with the ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) Institute since 2012, the Army, Navy, and Air Force have developed medical teleECHO programs to address various health and safety issues affecting military personnel. This article describes and compares the current state of military teleECHOs as well as the growth and change over time.

Materials And Methods: This study evaluated continuing education units (CEUs) offered, average session attendance, and number of spoke sites for current military teleECHO programs across the service branches.

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

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.

How Hands-On Pain Skills Intensive Trainings Complement ECHO Pain and Opioid Management Programs: A Program Evaluation with the Indian Health Service.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of Pain Skills Intensive trainings (PSIs) as a complement to the Indian Health Service (IHS) and the Chronic Pain and Opioid Management TeleECHO Program (ECHO Pain) collaboration.

Design: On-site PSIs conducted over two to three days were added to complement ECHO Pain at various IHS areas to enhance pain skills proficiency among primary care teams and to expand the reach of ECHO collaboration to ECHO nonparticipants.

Setting: This evaluation focuses on two PSI trainings offered to IHS clinicians in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Spokane, Washington, in 2017.

Barriers to and recommendations for take-home naloxone distribution: perspectives from opioid treatment programs in New Mexico.

Background: Naloxone is a safe and effective medication to help reverse opioid overdose. Providing take-home naloxone to patients in opioid treatment settings is a critical step to reducing opioid overdose deaths. In New Mexico, a US state with one of the highest rates of opioid overdose deaths, legislation was passed in 2017 (House Bill 370) to support take-home naloxone, and followed by naloxone training of Opioid Treatment Program staff to increase distribution.

Association of Take-Home Naloxone and Opioid Overdose Reversals Performed by Patients in an Opioid Treatment Program.

Importance: The US opioid crisis was deemed a public health emergency in 2017. More than 130 individuals in the US die daily as a result of unintentional opioid overdose deaths.

Objective: To measure use of take-home naloxone for overdose reversals performed by study participants with opioid use disorder receiving treatment at an opioid treatment program.

Army and Navy ECHO Pain Telementoring Improves Clinician Opioid Prescribing for Military Patients: an Observational Cohort Study.

Background: Opioid overdose deaths occur in civilian and military populations and are the leading cause of accidental death in the USA.

Objective: To determine whether ECHO Pain telementoring regarding best practices in pain management and safe opioid prescribing yielded significant declines in opioid prescribing.

Design: A 4-year observational cohort study at military medical treatment facilities worldwide.

Characteristics of Patients With Opioid Use Disorder Associated With Performing Overdose Reversals in the Community: An Opioid Treatment Program Analysis.

Objective: The primary outcome of this study is to identify characteristics of study participants in a large opioid treatment program (OTP) for opioid use disorder (OUD) who used take-home naloxone to perform 1 or more opioid overdose (OD) reversal(s) in the community.

Methods: This 6-month prospective cohort study provided take-home naloxone and opioid OD education for 287 study participants with OUD. Characteristics associated with use of the take-home naloxone were determined from among 16 variables using multivariable logistic regression.