Project ECHO
ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) is a collaborative medical education and care management model that empowers clinicians everywhere to provide better care to more people: right where they live.
Project ECHO at Nationwide Children’s Hospital focuses on diagnostic and medical care for children and youth. We welcome physicians, nurses, psychologists, counselors, social workers, healthcare administrators, community health workers, pharmacists and public health practitioners to participate.
ECHO creates ongoing learning communities where community-based providers receive support and develop the skills they need to diagnose and treat pediatric patients. As a result, they can provide comprehensive, best-practice care to patients with complex health conditions, in their own communities.
How Does it Work?
Project ECHO is designed to help move knowledge, not patients, through facilitated case discussions and didactic presentations. A learning loop is created through a knowledge sharing model for health care professionals to learn to provide excellent specialty care to patients in their own communities.
- Participants present de-identified cases from their own practice where there is a question of diagnosis or a question about management of symptoms.
- Participants and specialists discuss the cases, ask clarifying questions and provide recommendations. All participants receive a copy of the cases prior to each session, as well as the written recommendations, which are sent out following each session.
- All participants are encouraged to present at least one case for discussion during an ECHO session.
View Frequently Asked ECHO Questions
ECHO Groups
Nationwide Children's currently offers the following ECHO groups:
- Autism – ECHO Autism provides interdisciplinary expertise to health care providers from developmental pediatrics, child psychology, child psychiatry, social work, parent advisory and education specialists. This innovative system allows professionals to increase their confidence in identifying, treating and managing patients with autism in their own practices.
- Behavioral Health Primary Care – This ECHO series supports primary care providers in the assessment and management of behavioral health concerns for their patients. Led by a robust team of multi-disciplinary behavioral health specialists, topics will include commonly seen conditions in primary care such as ADHD, depression, anxiety, trauma and eating disorders and others followed by behavioral health and pharmacological guidance.
- Pediatric Health – The Pediatric Health ECHO offers a variety of series to support community-based clinicians and help them provide high quality, safe and effective care and treatment for children with specialized health care conditions. This series offers a variety of topics, including Pediatric Pain, Constipation, Tourette Syndrome and Tic Disorders, Cerebral Palsy and more.
- RUBI - ECHO RUBI is a free virtual learning network of behavioral health providers to help improve clinicians’ comfort and knowledge with a manualized parent-training program (RUBI), shown to be effective for children with autism and other disabilities. ECHO RUBI is a therapy based program designed to reduce disruptive behavior and improve adaptive behavior in children and offers an excellent opportunity to improve and advance your clinical skills to better serve families with children with autism and other developmental disabilities.
- Family – Family ECHO connects you with a team of experts to learn about and discuss topics such as improving and managing behaviors, self-care, family supports and resources. Parents and caregivers of children with developmental disabilities can participate.
