This is an application for a monthly virtual Community of Practice (COP) program which uses the ECHO model.
ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) is an established platform that has been used at UHN and in other centers in Ontario to train healthcare providers in remote and underserved areas (Zhou et al, 2016).
Post COVID-19 Condition (PCC) – also referred to as Long COVID- is a relatively new disease and the science is ever evolving. Our Long COVID ECHO program will serve as a platform for our healthcare practitioners to share new findings, discuss the latest guidelines and learn best practices from each other to treat the 3.5 million (or 11.7% of adult) Canadians who have PCC (StatsCan, 2023).
We are building a collaborative and interconnected Community of Practice to respond to this urgent and unique health challenge, which will accelerate the knowledge to practice continuum, to respond to person-centered needs and improve the lives of Canadians living with PCC. In our application and program, we use the term “Long COVID” to mean this condition.
Canada’s Chief Science Adviser (2022) established a task force in July 2022 to advise on ways to address post-Covid-19 condition in Canada. Below are some of this task force’s recommendations:
1. Provide timely and equitable access to person-centered care pathways for individuals living with PCC across the health care continuum regardless of ability, age, gender, geographic location or socio-economic or cultural background.
2. Establish a Canada-wide research and clinical care network for PCC and other similar post-infection chronic conditions to harmonize and coordinate efforts nationally and internationally.
We are doing just that (the two priorities above) with our ECHO program on Long COVID.
References:
Canada. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada; Office of the Chief Science Advisor. (2022, December). Post‑COVID‑19 condition in Canada: What we know, what we don’t know, and a framework for action [Monograph Iu37‑37/2023E‑PDF]. Public Health Agency of Canada.
Statistics Canada. (2023, December 8). Experiences of Canadians with long term symptoms following COVID 19. The Daily. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/231208/dq231208a-eng.htm
Zhou, C., Crawford, A., Serhal, E., Kurdyak, P., & Sockalingam, S. (2016). The Impact of Project ECHO on Participant and Patient Outcomes: A Systematic Review. Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, 91(10), 1439–1461. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000001328