The Stanford Center for Continuing Medical Education is offering a new national ECHO program series to address the urgent needs of primary care providers caring for patients with complex diabetes during the time of COVID-19.
Part of an 18-month pilot program that allows researchers at Stanford University and the University of Florida to learn more about how to improve care access for underserved adult and pediatric communities living with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D), the ECHO Team is working with primary care providers, as well as children and adults with T1D who do not visit endocrinologists to find out what healthcare barriers prevent people from receiving diabetes care.
The program is a 16-week educational series titled "Project ECHO Diabetes in the Time of COVID-19: Series Addressing Complex Diabetes Management in the Primary Care Setting." The program came together very quickly over the past several weeks with the collaboration of a national faculty representing 12 states/ECHO programs and additional speakers. The program is being supported by the Stanford Center for Continuing Medical Education with industry support. The series launches Wednesday, May 20 from 8 to 9:15 a.m., and participants can participate weekly or drop in on any session. The target audience for this series is front-line primary care providers and clinics caring for patients with complex diabetes who lack routine access to diabetes specialty care.
Preliminary data on outcomes for those with diabetes and COVID-19 indicate higher hospitalization, intensive care, and fatality rates compared to those without reported underlying health conditions. Minimizing hyperglycemia and “poor control” is paramount to reducing diabetes patient risk and vulnerability to infection and complications, including COVID-19.
Healthcare professionals and professional caregivers may register via the Stanford Center ECHO website: https://med.stanford.edu/cme/diabetescovid.html
