Spread, Implementation and Experiences of Pallium Canada’s Palliative Care ECHO Project: A Mixed Methods Evaluation

Pallium Canada’s Palliative Care Extension for Community Project (PC-ECHO) is an initiative to support continuous professional development for palliative care. PC-ECHO includes a superhub (Pallium Canada) and several partner hubs, which host sessions and communities of practice (COP).  Such learning programs have been developed to support educational needs for delivering palliative care across various care settings and professional groups. The first investigation (manuscript submitted) discusses PC-ECHO’s spread from April 2021 to September 2023. The goal of the second evaluation is to understand leader, panelist, and participant experiences while developing and participating in Hub COPs.

A mixed-methods study design has been used for this evaluation. Learner demographics are collected via Pallium’s online learning management system. Session evaluations were collected through standardized online forms. Hub and COP leaders, panelists and participants were invited to complete semi-structured interviews to better understand the evolution and impact of PC-ECHO participation. There was a total of 17,467 participations across the 301 sessions, and 31% of participants were from rural centres across Canada. Twenty-two interviews have been completed across both evaluations. Data analysis is currently underway to better understand the evolution and impact of COP participation, and how to best structure continuing education programs moving forward.