Palliative Care ECHO

As an accredited Project ECHO® hub provider, UQ-COH coordinate a range of Project ECHOs in different health specialty areas. Palliative Care ECHO commenced in early 2022.

Palliative Care ECHO is a series of interactive online mentoring sessions (via Zoom) that address a range of palliative care topics and facilitate learning through a brief lecture, case-based presentations and discussions. Aimed at increasing palliative care knowledge, skills, and confidence in non-specialist health professionals, the 1-hour sessions create a virtual ‘learning loop’ between specialists and primary healthcare professionals (see Figure 1), regardless of their geographical location.

Figure 1. The Project ECHO® learning loop

Each session includes:

A 10 minute presentation by a Palliative Care Specialist multidisciplinary team - topic of the month
A deidentified case presentation by a primary care professional and
Lots of opportunities for Q&A and discussion in between

Since its conception in 2022 Palliative Care ECHO attendees have joined from all over Australia and internationally. Preliminary evaluation results of the Queensland Palliative Care ECHO showed that clinicians attending: increased their palliative care knowledge, skills and confidence to support people living with a life-limiting illness and their families. It also reduced the sense of professional isolation. The success of the Queensland service attracted funding from the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care and it is now a national program.

The program is led by Dr Helen Haydon (Centre for Online Health, UQ) who works with palliative and primary care organisations across Australia to deliver the program.

ECHO programs provide many benefits for healthcare professionals by creating a virtual network to share specialist healthcare knowledge and experiences, develop connections and provide networking opportunities, while improving local workforce capacities and access to specialist healthcare services in rural communities.

Scheduled on the third Tuesday of every month – 1pm to 2pm, the Palliative Care ECHO sessions will discuss and share information around symptom management, advance care planning, clinical pain management, and end of life care. If you would like to participate and join the ECHO community, please click on the link below.

Visit the Palliative Care ECHO website

Collaborators

The Palliative Care ECHO program is supported by a growing network of specialist palliative care teams, primary health networks and several peak bodies including: