TY - JOUR AU - Lingum, Navena R. AU - Guttman Sokoloff, Lisa AU - Chau, James AU - Feldman, Sid AU - Gingrich, Shaen AU - Grief, Cindy J. AU - Meyer, Raquel M. AU - Moser, Andrea L. AU - Shaikh, Salma AU - Santiago, Anna Theresa AU - Sham, Rosalind AU - Sodums, Devin J. AU - Conn, David K. PY - 2021/02/18 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - ECHO Care of the Elderly: Innovative Learning to Build Capacity in Long-term Care JF - Canadian Geriatrics Journal JA - Can Geriatr J VL - 24 IS - 1 SE - Original Research DO - 10.5770/cgj.24.458 UR - https://cgjonline.ca/index.php/cgj/article/view/458 SP - 36-43 AB - <p><strong>Background </strong></p><p>Older adults are entering long-term care (LTC) homes with more complex care needs than in previous decades, resulting in demands on point-of-care staff to provide additional and specialty services. This study evaluated whether Project ECHO® (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) Care of the Elderly Long-Term Care (COE-LTC)—a case-based online education program—is an effective capacity-building program among interprofessional health-care teams caring for LTC residents.</p><p><strong>Methods </strong></p><p>A mixed-method, pre-and-post study comprised of satisfaction, knowledge, and self-efficacy surveys and exploration of experience via semi-structured interviews. Participants were interprofessional health-care providers from LTC homes across Ontario.</p><p><strong>Results </strong></p><p>From January–March 2019, 69 providers, nurses/nurse practitioners (42.0%), administrators (26.1%), physicians (24.6%), and allied health professionals (7.3%) participated in 10 weekly, 60-minute online sessions. Overall, weekly session and post-ECHO satisfaction were high across all domains. Both knowledge scores and self-efficacy ratings increased post-ECHO, 3.9% (<em>p </em>= .02) and 9.7 points (<em>p </em>&lt; .001), respectively. Interview findings highlighted participants’ appreciation of access to specialists, recognition of educational needs specific to LTC, and reduction of professional isolation.</p><p><strong>Conclusion </strong></p><p>We demonstrated that ECHO COE-LTC can be a successful capacity-building educational model for interprofessional health-care providers in LTC, and may alleviate pressures on the health system in delivering care for residents.</p> ER -