The University of New Mexico – AIDS Education and Training Center (UNM-AETC) is a local partner site of the South Central AIDS and Education Training Center (SCAETC). UNM has been a part of the AETC since 1988 and is now administered by The University of New Mexico's Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) and the Health Sciences Center.
UNM-AETC partners both locally and nationally to host the annual statewide NM HIV/HCV Update Conference and offers ongoing in-person and ECHO education and training opportunities. Education and trainings provide customized, multi-disciplinary programs for health care teams treating persons living with HIV or those at risk for HIV.
The UNM-AETC hosts multiple ECHO sessions including weekly for HIV and monthly for PrEP and Indian Country HIV. The ECHO Model is not telemedicine—where the specialist assumes care of the patient—it is telementoring, or a guided practice model where the participating clinician retains responsibility for managing the patient.
ECHO sessions are attended by HIV clinical providers, nurses, case managers, pharmacists, behavioral health providers, peer educators, community health workers, and other members of the health care team. Continuing education credits are available at no cost to participants. Participants are able to learn from presenting patient cases and from hearing others present their cases. Sessions include review of key learning points and discussion of the evaluation and management of patient cases, with the input of the interprofessional community of practice.
The New Mexico AIDS Education and Training Center (NM AETC, the regional partner of South Central AETC) has partnered with Project ECHO to create the NM AETC-HIV TeleECHO Program, designed to help providers unfamiliar with HIV become proficient in the treatment and prevention of HIV in a primary care setting. Brief didactic lectures and case presentations cover clinical, programmatic, and social support topics to provide best practice care to patients living with HIV.
The target audience is primary care providers, mental health and substance use treatment providers, pharmacists, nurses, medical assistants, case managers, community health workers, outreach educators, and other health care workers involved in the treatment or prevention of HIV.
Project ECHO was launched in 2003 as a health care initiative committed to addressing the needs of the most vulnerable populations by equipping communities with the right knowledge, at the right place, at the right time.
With interactive video technology and innovative adult learning techniques, the ECHO Model allows local community providers to connect with specialists in real time collaborative sessions, helping the local workers provide required services with new expertise. Sessions with specialists are structured around case-based learning and mentorship. Providers gain skills and confidence; specialists learn new approaches for applying their knowledge across diverse cultural and geographical contexts. As the capacity of the local workforce increases, lives improve.
This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Under grant number U1OHA33225 (South Central AIDS Education and Training Center). It was awarded to the University of New Mexico. No percentage of this project was financed with non-governmental sources. This information or content and conclusions are those of the authors and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government.
