Virtual Peer-to-Peer Learning to Enhance and Accelerate the Health System Response to COVID-19: The HHS ASPR Project ECHO COVID-19 Clinical Rounds Initiative
Richard C. Hunt, Bruce Struminger, John T. Redd, Jack Herrmann, Bani Jolly, Sanjeev Arora, Amy J. Armistad, Amanda M. Dezan, Celine Bennett, Jon R. Krohmer, Lawrence H. Brown
Abstract
Tasked with identifying digital health solutions to support dynamic learning health systems and their response to COVID-19, the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response partnered with the University of New Mexico’s Project ECHO and more than 2 dozen other organizations and agencies to create a real-time virtual peer-to-peer clinical education opportunity: the COVID-19 Clinical Rounds Initiative. Focused on 3 “pressure points” in the COVID-19 continuum of care—(1) the out-of-hospital and/or emergency medical services setting, (2) emergency departments, and (3) inpatient critical care environments—the initiative has created a massive peer-to-peer learning network for real-time information sharing, engaging participants in all 50 US states and more than 100 countries. One hundred twenty-five learning sessions had been conducted between March 24, 2020 and February 25, 2021, delivering more than 58,000 total learner-hours of contact in the first 11 months of operation. Tasked with identifying digital health solutions to support dynamic learning health systems and their response to COVID-19, the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response partnered with the University of New Mexico’s Project ECHO and more than 2 dozen other organizations and agencies to create a real-time virtual peer-to-peer clinical education opportunity: the COVID-19 Clinical Rounds Initiative. Focused on 3 “pressure points” in the COVID-19 continuum of care—(1) the out-of-hospital and/or emergency medical services setting, (2) emergency departments, and (3) inpatient critical care environments—the initiative has created a massive peer-to-peer learning network for real-time information sharing, engaging participants in all 50 US states and more than 100 countries. One hundred twenty-five learning sessions had been conducted between March 24, 2020 and February 25, 2021, delivering more than 58,000 total learner-hours of contact in the first 11 months of operation.