Interprofessional care of people with multiple chronic conditions: An open-access resource for nursing educators

Abstract

Nurses, nurse practitioners, and other healthcare professionals must be prepared to care for the growing population of patients with multiple chronic conditions, to promote patient engagement, patient self-management, and for interprofessional collaboration. Interprofessional Care of Individuals with Multiple Chronic Conditions is an open-access eLearning course designed to prepare students with these skills. The course features multimedia presentations, interactive exercises, and an immersive “day in the life of a patient-centered medical home” in which learners make decisions, receive feedback, and experience consequences in the context of real-world video scenarios. Three hundred thirty-four nurse practitioner students participated in the educational program. To evaluate the program, we conducted a paired-samples t-test to compare scores on pre and posttest evaluation surveys. There was a significant difference in the scores for applying the Chronic Care Model t (df) = 15.99; p < 0.001, coaching for self-management t (df) = 11.04; p < 0.001 and interprofessional collaboration t (df) = 3.86; p < 0.00. The majority of students were satisfied or very satisfied with the modules. Students found the immersive video scenarios to be the best feature of the course. The course is available to assist students in gaining the ability to care for patients with chronic illnesses within interprofessional practice settings.