ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) is an educational model that improves care for patients by connecting local healthcare providers with experts using an interactive online learning approach.
This program is free and is intended for clinical staff in Central region that provide care for patients with mental health and addiction concerns in urgent and emergent settings. The curriculum will specifically address urgent and emergent mental health care and the needs of this population.
This program aims to:
- Build non-schedule 1 & community clinicians’ capacity to manage complex mental health cases.
- Enhance relationships between sites and foster greater empathy towards the issues that are unique in each setting.
- Ensure a shared understanding of legal requirements, transfer processes and PICU/ECA and ward criteria across the system.
Below is a list of curriculum topics that will likely be featured in this program.
- Overview of the Mental Health System
- Community Mental Health & Addiction Services
- Urgent and Emergent Issues in Concurrent Disorders
- Medicolegal Issues – Mental Health Act, Consent, Capacity and Privacy
- Frequent ED Visitors
- What to do while waiting for care?
- When the person is both mentally and medically very unwell
- Regional Priorities