Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Sep 21;18(18):9914.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph18189914.

Impact of Sleep Telementorship in Primary Care: Sleep VA-ECHO (Veterans Affairs-Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes)

Brian N Palen  1   2 , Elizabeth A Mattox  1 , Ken He  1   2 , Lauren A Beste  3   4 , Joleen Borgerding  4 , Sarah Patel  5   6 , David H Au  1   2   4 , Michael F Chang  7   8 , Elizabeth C Parsons  1   2
Affiliations

Impact of Sleep Telementorship in Primary Care: Sleep VA-ECHO (Veterans Affairs-Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes)

Brian N Palen et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Sleep VA-ECHO (Veterans Affairs-Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) is a national telementorship program intended to improve knowledge about sleep disorders among non-specialty providers. The project goal was to describe the characteristics of Sleep VA-ECHO participants from primary care and their use of program-obtained knowledge in practice. Sleep VA-ECHO consisted of 10 voluntary, 75-min teleconference sessions combining didactics and case discussion. Out of 86 participants, 21 self-identified as primary care team members and completed a program evaluation. Participants self-reported their application of knowledge gained, including changes to practice as a result of program participation. These 21 participants represented 18 sites in 11 states and attended a median of 5.0 sessions. They included physicians (29%), nurse practitioners (24%), and registered nurses (24%). Nearly all participants (95%) reported using acquired knowledge to care for their own patients at least once a month; 67% shared knowledge with colleagues at least once a month. Eighty-five percent reported improved quality of sleep care for their patients, and 76% reported an expanded clinical skillset. The greatest self-reported change in practice occurred in patient education about sleep disorders (95%) and non-pharmacologic management of insomnia (81%).

Keywords: education; health professions education; mentorship; primary care; professional development; project ECHO; sleep disorders; virtual education.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Self-reported change in comfort managing specific aspects of sleep care (n = 21). Abbreviations: OSA: obstructive sleep apnea; PSTD: post-traumatic stress disorder. Denominators include “not applicable” and “do not know” responses, but these categories are not displayed.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Self-reported change in clinical practice. Denominators, noted after each domain, exclude those who answered “did not attend a session related to this content”.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Specific ways participants report using knowledge gained. Abbreviations: VA-ECHO: Veterans Affairs–Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes; * mutually exclusive options.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Institute of Medicine . Sleep Disorders and Sleep Deprivation: An Unmet Public Health Problem. The National Academies Press; Washington, DC, USA: 2006. - PubMed
    1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Healthy People 2020: Sleep Health. [(accessed on 4 August 2021)];2017 Available online: https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/sleep-health.
    1. Namen A.M., Forest D.J., Ms K.E.H., Feldman S.R., Hazzard W.R., Peters S.P., Haponik E.F. Physicians report sleep apnea infrequently in older and older vulnerable adults. J. Am. Geriatr. Soc. 2017;65:2023–2028. doi: 10.1111/jgs.14929. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Watson N.F., Rosen I.M., Chervin R.D. Board of Directors of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. The past is prologue: The future of sleep medicine. J. Clin. Sleep Med. 2017;13:127–135. doi: 10.5664/jcsm.6406. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sarmiento K., Rossettie J., Stepnowsky C., Atwood C., Calvitti A. VA Sleep Network. The state of Veterans Affairs sleep medicine programs: 2012 inventory results. Sleep Breath. 2016;20:379–382. doi: 10.1007/s11325-015-1184-0. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources