0920-1154 Pediatrician - ECHO Debriefing Conference Call

AAP Neurodevelopment ECHO Participant Focus Group Discussion Guide
Welcome, Housekeeping, and Introductions (5-10 minutes)
Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedules to talk with me today. My name
is Linda Radecki and I’m and independent evaluation consultant working with the American
Academy of Pediatrics to learn more about your experience with the Neurodevelopment ECHO
project. Before we begin the discussion, I am going to cover a few housekeeping details and
ground rules to set the stage.
1. Your participation in this focus group is voluntary, which means that you can stop the
conversation, not answer a question, or choose to leave at any time.
2. There are no right or wrong answers — we value all opinions, positive and negative. I
have not been involved in any stage of this ECHO except for the evaluation work.
3. It’s important that we hear from everyone – you all have important insight and feedback
so please speak up, even if everyone else in the group is agreeing on something and
you’re the one person who disagrees. All opinions are valuable to improving ECHO
projects in the future.
4. This discussion will last approximately 1 hour. To make sure that I don’t keep you much
longer, I may sometimes interrupt to keep the discussion focused or move us along to a
new topic.
5. The conversation will be recorded to support the preparation of a summary report that
will be shared with the AAP team. The report will not disclose names or any other
information that could potentially identify an individual or their institution. Is there
anyone who is not comfortable being recorded? [If anyone objects to recording written
notes will be taken instead]
6. What questions do you have for me before we get started?
I’m excited to hear from you! Let’s go around the virtual table and introduce yourselves. Please
tell us your name, professional role, approximately how many Neurodevelopment ECHO clinics
you attended, and why you chose to participate in this ECHO.
ECHO Experience (25 minutes)
1. We’re going to spend a few minutes talking about the components that make up an ECHO
clinic – first thinking about the brief faculty lectures.
a. What did you find most helpful about the brief lectures?
Probe: …related to direct patient care and/or practice/system change?
b. What could be improved about the brief lectures?

c. In general, how relevant – or not – are the lectures to the issues of greatest interest or
challenge regarding Neurodevelopment in your clinical setting?
2. Now please think about the case-scenario presentations by clinicians (presentations by you
and your peers).
a. What did you find most helpful about the case presentations?
Probe: …related to direct patient care and/or practice/system change?
b. What could be improved about the case presentations and discussions?
c. In general, how relevant – or not – are the case scenarios to the issues of greatest
interest or challenge regarding Neurodevelopment in your clinical setting?
d. Across ECHOs, one of the biggest challenges for hubs is getting participants to submit
and present cases so it’s helpful for us to understand the barriers and challenges
associated with that task.
i. How was your experience submitting a case(s) Probe: How did you feel about the MOC
requirement for case presentation?
ii. What would make submitting a case easier?

Putting ECHO Learnings into Practice (20 minutes)
3. In what ways are you using what you learned from this ECHO with your patients?
Probe: To what degree are you able to apply concepts presented by others in the
Neurodevelopment ECHO sessions to patients with similar problems?
4. Please share a story or example that illustrates how the knowledge or skills you acquired as
a result of ECHO participation benefitted direct patient care or something you do in
practice. As a reminder, please do not include any information that might be construed as
protected health information (PHI) in your comments.
5. What, if any, practice changes related to the care of children with behavioral health
concerns have you made as a result of your ECHO participation? What do you do differently
as a result of participating in Neurodevelopment ECHO?
Policy? Workflow? Systems?
6. In what ways, if any, do you use the quality improvement (QI) methodology you’ve learned
through Neurodevelopment ECHO in the practice setting?
Probe regarding experience with monthly huddles.
7. What, if any, clinical or practice-related problems or concerns remain unanswered or
unresolved by your participation in this ECHO?

8. Much of healthcare involves a team of caregivers who care for patients. Did others from
your practice/healthcare system participate in the Neurodevelopment ECHO with you?
Probe (if yes): In what ways has that been helpful.
Probe (if no): Why is that and would having your colleagues participate been helpful?
9. Who has shared something that they’ve learned through ECHO participation with a
colleague?
Probe: Tell me more about that.
Probe: What facilitates or inhibits sharing information and practices from the
Neurodevelopment ECHO clinic with colleagues?

Future Planning (5-10 minutes)
10. In what ways does the ECHO model provide value over other types of learning opportunities
or trainings (such as face-to-face trainings, workshops, online learning programs)?
Probe: In what ways, if any, has the Neurodevelopment ECHO created a sense of community
around this topic? Facilitated networking?
a. Now let’s consider the flip side. What, if any, are the drawbacks or disadvantages
of the ECHO model.

11. What would you change, modify, or add to improve the Neurodevelopment ECHO?

Wrap Up
What haven’t we talked about that would be important for the project team to know?
Those are all the questions that I have for you today. Thank you so much your openness and for
taking the time to participate and share your thoughts. Your insights and feedback will help
strengthen this and other ECHO clinics in the future.