Project Description:
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Dramatic increases in the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been accompanied by a rising tide of adolescents with ASD who are entering adulthood. With well-documented shortages of provider workforce, training of community healthcare providers to serve the unique needs of transition-age youth with ASD in geographic, racial, ethnic, and economically diverse communities requires novel approaches. Project Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (Project ECHO) framework is an approach that has proven successful in increasing the role and expertise of the practicing community-based primary care provider (PCP).
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Project ECHO uses secure multi-point videoconferencing technology to create a learning community, connecting PCPs in local communities ("spokes") to an interdisciplinary team of experts ("hub") through regular recurring sessions. During these sessions, learning is facilitated through brief evidence-based didactics, case-based learning (during which PCPs present their own cases for discussion and co-management), collaborative mentorship, and guided practice. ECHO Autism is a pilot program collaborated between CHDD Adults & Elders faculty and University of Missouri to provide support primary care providers in their work with teens and adults around the transition years. Began in the Fall of 2018 and recruited primary care providers nationally for participation, Washington State had the highest number of provider participants. The effectiveness of this program in increasing the confidence levels of primary care participants is currently under evaluation, and the hope is that this program will continue and expand in 2019.
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