Distance Education can be Effective for Rural Physicians

Rural doctors don't have the same access to learning resources as physicians in cities often do, they depend much more on distance learning methods than other physicians do. We know that distance learning methods can be just as effective as any other methods. Hepatitis C is a problem in rural New Mexico. The treatment is complex, and rural physicians often don't have access to effective continuing education to help them learn to treat it. Physicians at the University of New Mexico have developed an interesting system for using a telehealth network to teach Hepatitis C treatment, called Project ECHO.



In the Project ECHO model, physicians begin by spending a day or two at a Hepatitis C clinic, where they shadow a specialist.  Then, follow weekly, two-hour case presentations that include discussion of treatment complications and psychiatric, medical, and substance abuse issues.  Collaborators in these sessions might include various medical and mental health specialists. 

The cases are worked through collaboratively, with shared case management and decision making.  The rural physicians present their own cases, and occasionally, are asked to research and present didactic information to the group. 

Project ECHO has resulted in positive differences in the lives of patients.  The outcomes for the ECHO project, published in a June, 2011 article in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that patients treated at the ECHO sites had similar rates of sustained viral response as patients seen at the specialty clinic.