IU Offering Free Virtual COVID-19 Training

Participants join the new Indiana COVID-19 Response ECHO

Researchers and clinicians at Indiana University are offering a way to help the state’s health care workers in the fight against the novel coronavirus. Free virtual training focused on issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic will be made available through educational videoconferencing, called an ECHO, and made available through the Fairbanks School of Public Health at IUPUI. 

The case-based learning system and practice model will allow health care workers in several locations to connect with specialists for real-time videoconferencing, and be able to access recordings of the sessions. 

“There’s nothing like having a direct line to an expert,” said Andrea Janota, interim director of the ECHO Center at the Fairbanks School of Public Health. “They can provide the most up-to-date information and answer questions in real time.”

The first training session was held on April 1 with over 300 health care workers from 61 counties, 52 in Indiana. Janota says the training is focused on issues relevant to Indiana, but the topics can be universally applied.

The training sessions will happen every Wednesday morning until May 6, when Janota says her team will assess if more instruction is necessary. Upcoming sessions will include triage specialists, pharmacology, rural health and maximizing PPE, but she adds the curriculum is fluid to allow for questions from participants.

“Even in this time of telecommuting, ECHO is open for business, and we’re not slowing down,” Janota said.