400 Section - Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes): Assessing the feasibility of prenatal care provider pain management education

Objectives : Managing pain during the peripartum period is challenging due to limitations in pharmacotherapy options, sparse research in the area and a lack of educational resources for prenatal care providers.  Project ECHO is a telementoring intervention that increases the capacity of community care providers to manage complex cases by connecting them with a specialist team. The objective of this project was to adapt the Project ECHO model to a Pain in Pregnancy curriculum.  

Design:

A specialist interprofessional group was formed to develop an appropriate curriculum, ultimately designing eight 1-hour virtual sessions with focused perinatal pain management topics. Each session included didactic teaching along with case-based discussion. 2 iterations of this series have been completed. Demographic data was collected on the participants, participation in education sessions as well as participant feedback.  Adaptations were made to the second iteration based on initial feedback.

Results: There was significant interest in registering for the program from physicians, nurses, allied health and pharmacists. Attendance was variable weekly, ranging from 19-74% of registrants. Feedback from participants included benefit from the combination of didactic learning, case-based discussion and access to specialists in real time. The resources were additionally an asset, as noted by those who were not able to attend sessions.

Conclusion:

The ECHO model of education has the potential to be an effective way to empower prenatal care providers and pain practitioners. Future iterations of the program will be adapted to allow increased participation/attendance as well as compiling resources for ongoing reference.