Turning Strategy into Action – Using the ECHO Model to Empower the Australian Workforce to Integrate Care

Abstract

Introduction: Children’s Health Queensland (CHQ) established a telementoring hub in Queensland, using the Project ECHO® model, to pilot and scale a range of virtual communities of practice (CoP) to empower the Australian workforce to integrate care. Description: The establishment of the first Project ECHO hub in Queensland facilitated the implementation of a variety of child and youth health CoP that strategically aligned to the organisation’s approach to integrate care through workforce development. Subsequently, other organisations nationally have also been trained to implement and replicate the ECHO model to effect more integrated care through CoPs in other priority areas. Discussion: Findings from a database audit and desktop analysis of project documentation highlighted that using the ECHO model was effective in establishing co-designed and interprofessional CoP to support a cross-sector workforce to deliver more integrated care. Conclusion: CHQ’s use of Project ECHO highlights an intentional approach to establishing virtual CoP to build workforce capability to integrate care. The approach explored in this paper highlights the value of workforce collaboration amongst non-traditional partners to foster more integrated care.

Keywords

• integrated care
• project echo
• communities of practice
• paediatrics
• interprofessional education
• workforce