IUPUI faculty and staff have launched a new online training tool that aims to share best practices in pain management and care with health professionals statewide.

The IU Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health ECHO Center at IUPUI has launched the state's first Integrated Pain Management ECHO program -- making this the seventh ECHO program offered through the center.

Project ECHO is a case-based learning system and guided practice model that increases medical education and workforce capacity to provide best-practice specialty care and reduce health disparities. Health care providers from multiple locations will connect with a specialist -- or team of specialists -- through videoconferencing at regularly scheduled times.

Dr. Joan Duwve, director of the ECHO Center, said the center is expanding rapidly to meet the needs of Hoosier health care providers and their patients.

The Integrated Pain Management ECHO includes an interprofessional team of pain-management experts and a cohort of health care providers from across Indiana -- including physicians, pharmacists, advance practice nurses, physical therapists and social workers -- who work together using brief presentations and case-based discussions to enhance the care of people with chronic pain.