Improving Patient Access Through Project ECHO

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Identifier 2019_Moyers
Title Improving Patient Access Through Project ECHO
Creator Moyers, Landon
Subject Advanced Practice Nursing; Education, Nursing, Graduate; Mentally Ill Persons; Mental Health Services; Psychiatric Department, Hospital; Health Care Quality, Access, and Evaluation; Outcome Assessment (Health Care); Medically Underserved Area; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Telemedicine; Community-Institutional Relations; Quality of Health Care; Quality Improvement; Wyoming
Description Problem: Access to psychiatric care is limited across the Intermountain West with less than half of the number of psychiatric providers needed to meet the needs of the population. The purpose of this Quality Improvement (QI) project was to increase access to psychiatric care in a regional hospital in southwestern Wyoming by implementing Project: Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) education and training. Methods: The project assessed providers level of knowledge and usage of Project ECHO (PE), as well as comfort level and frequency treating adult and pediatric psychiatric patients with a survey. Providers were then educated on the specific offerings of PE and aided in enrollment. A post survey was administered measuring PE use, self-reported Likert-style ratings of comfort level and frequency treating psychiatric patients, free form recommendations for improvement, and barriers encountered. Results: The three-month baseline period showed that of the nine providers that participated one provider increased their use of PE services by 50% and another increased their use by 30%. The providers that did not increase their use of PE (n=7, 78%) had no change in their level of comfort providing psychiatric care while one that increased their use had a decreased comfort level possibly as a result of increased awareness of knowledge deficit. Conclusion: PE has been introduced to this hospital and its providers that have minimal training in psychiatry. The groundwork for change has been initiated. A program for delivering psychiatric services by PE was developed. Further QI cycles are needed to address the barriers to using PE.
Relation is Part of Graduate Nursing Project, Doctor of Nursing Practice, DNP
Publisher Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah
Date 2019
Type Text
Rights
Holding Institution Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah
Language eng
ARK ark:/87278/s6jh83pw
Setname ehsl_gradnu
ID 1428528
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6jh83pw
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