MON-529 Evaluating the Impact of On-Demand Project Extension of Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) Diabetes Management Curriculum on Physician Associate Students

Abstract

Disclosure: H.R. Holland: None. N.M. Ehrhardt: Novo Nordisk, Bayer, Inc., Dexcom. P. Phelps: None. S. Kim: Signos, Inc..

Background: Project ECHO is a well-established remote learning model used primarily to provide specialist-level continuing education to healthcare providers already in practice. As these sessions are delivered live on digital platform, a limitation in introducing this curriculum to in-training students was low attendance. To increase access, we evaluated the implementation of an on-demand option for diabetes Project ECHO for physician associate students (PAS). Methods: During their first year, PAS at Idaho State University completed six on-demand diabetes ECHO sessions, each consisting of a brief didactic presentation followed by a case discussion involving a multidisciplinary team. The course materials specifically focused on medication management for Type 2 diabetes (T2D). During their clinical rotations, trainees were surveyed about their clinical workload, patient volume, and their perceptions of the utility and accessibility of the training resources. The survey used a Likert scale to assess the utility of the modules in their practice setting at the time, interest in revisiting the modules, comfort with pharmaceutical management of diabetes compared to their peers, and whether they would recommend the modules to other students. We plan to repeat the survey after graduates have been in independent practice for 6 months. Results: 37 PAS completed the survey. Students reported working an average of 2.33 half days per week and seeing an average of 3.05 patients with diabetes per week. The majority of respondents (59.5%) stated that the modules had been helpful to them in the patient care phase of their training. Most participants felt neutral when asked about the ECHO modules' effectiveness in helping them manage patients with diabetes in their current practice (42.9%), their comfort with the pharmaceutical management of diabetes compared to their peers (45.7%), and their likelihood of recommending the modules to others (36.1%). However, 44.4% said they would revisit the ECHO diabetes education materials. Conclusions: The use of the ECHO model in preparing healthcare trainees for practice is a novel application of a well-established tool. PAS were neutral about the helpfulness of the diabetes ECHO content, though they are early in their clinical careers, and most indicated that they would like to review the educational materials. It will be interesting to see how useful the education proves to be once they are in active practice. This work highlights the opportunity to leverage existing educational infrastructure to expand learning opportunities for healthcare trainees but should be assessed once they are in independent practice.

Presentation: Monday, July 14, 2025