On December 6, school nurses across Western North Carolina will have the opportunity to train with the region’s top healthcare experts without ever having to leave their office thanks to a new medical education program being offered by the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC). The Project ECHO® for School Nurses webinar series is the second teleECHO™ clinic to be offered in WNC.
The first ECHO® series
launched in November with a Type II diabetes clinic to support MAHEC’s rural family
medicine fellows practicing in Haywood, Macon, Mitchell, Swain and Yancey counties.
Upcoming sessions for these rural physicians will focus on a variety of topics
including autoimmune diseases, sports medicine, Hepatitis C, and substance use
disorders.
“This technology helps us bridge the distance between our rural
fellows, share vital information, and build a supportive cohort,” shares
Benjamin Gilmore, MD, MAHEC family physician and rural fellowship advisor.
“These virtual clinics allow us to bring healthcare specialists to the doors of
each fellow remotely.”
MAHEC is one of only two academic health centers in North Carolina
offering these innovative trainings.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill facilitates a Project ECHO® on medication-assisted therapy in which MAHEC
participates and provides perinatal substance use treatment expertise.
Project ECHO® (Extension
for Community Healthcare Outcomes) is a lifelong learning and guided practice
model developed at the University of New Mexico to reduce barriers to specialty
care in rural areas. The hub-and-spokes training model brings together an
interdisciplinary team of healthcare specialists at a learning hub to share
information in real-time with area primary care providers via multi-site web conferencing.
The upcoming webinar series for school nurses will consist of hour-long
modules on relevant topics including diabetes management, seizure disorders,
hypertension, asthma, mental health, dermatology, motivational interviewing,
and screening and referral for treatment. Nurses will have opportunities to
explore and get guidance on actual patient cases.
“I’m excited that school nurses across our region can get the
training they need to support the students who walk into their office every
day,” shares Alice Elio, MSN, School Health Program Manager at MAHEC.
“Project ECHO® offers
accessible opportunities for rural schools to benefit from healthcare experts
in planning and providing care for students with special needs,” she explains.
This 10-part bi-weekly training is FREE or is available for $100
if continuing education credit is desired. To qualify for credit, nurses must
attend at least 8 out of 10 sessions. Teaching faculty include Susan Alexander,
MD, a MAHEC family physician, and Suzette LaRoche, MD, an epidemiologist and
medical director of the Epilepsy Center at Mission Health in Asheville, NC.
Future
MAHEC ECHO® series will address
chronic pain management, mental health, and complex conditions. These trainings
are being designed to support rural primary care providers including
physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, behavioral health
specialists, and pharmacists.
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