Project Echo
Connecting Palliative Care Across Ireland
Project ECHO AIIHPC: Nursing Homes
The first project ECHO AIIHPC training programme, funded by the HSE, was delivered to nursing homes within South Dublin and facilitated by the multidisciplinary palliative care team at Our Lady's Hospice & Care Services. The next phase, which commenced in February 2018, extended invitations out to the remaining homes within Dublin and is facilitated jointly by the multidisciplinary palliative care teams at St Francis Hospice and Our Lady's Hospice & Care Services.
The ECHO AIIHPC Nursing Home project is designed to support nursing home staff to improve their knowledge and skills in the care and management of patients with a wide range of palliative healthcare needs. The ECHO model™ brings together palliative care staff from St Francis Hospice and Our Lady’s Hospice & Care Services (the hub) and nursing home staff (the spokes). Each ECHO will usually last one hour and thirty minutes, accessed from within each nursing home facility using teleconferencing software. Through fortnightly teaching sessions and case presentations, nursing home staff will have the opportunity to discuss patient scenarios which they have found challenging and determine the best course of future treatment. The network will foster a spirit of learning from each other in a safe environment.
The key aim of the Nursing Homes project is to build skills and knowledge of staff to improve their resident’s experiences and avoid unnecessary emergency department attendances or hospital stays. A further objective is that nursing home staff teams will feel empowered to access relevant palliative care services appropriately and become an effective connected learning community.
The evaluation of the first phase of Project ECHO AIIHPC: Nursing Homes can be viewed here
Further information can be viewed here