Margaret C. Ryan Global Health Program | ECHO Project Improving Patient Care for Kids with Cancer in Guatemala

LOCATION: Latin America (Guatemala)
TOPIC: Non-Communicable Diseases & Education

The Medical-Surgical ICU at Boston Children's Hospital established The ECHO Project: Educación de Cuidados Intensivos en un Hospital de Oncología in December of 2014. Since it's inception the ECHO Project has demonstrated a multidisciplinary commitment to improving the quality and standard of patient care at Unidad Nacional de Oncologia Pediatrica (UNOP), a specialty pediatric hospital in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Through collaboration with nursing, pharmacy, and physician leaders both at BCH and UNOP we are striving to close the education-practice gap and enhance outcomes for children with cancer in low-resource settings. Support of nursing orientation programs, offering frequent and relevant continuing education programs, and implementation of systems improvements to enhance patient safety are sustainable interventions to improve quality of care and patient outcomes.