Interprofessional Collaborative Practice Competencies Research Articles

Navigating Supervision and Interprofessional Relationships in Health Psychology.

Previous literature has focused on either individual models of supervision, developing trainees' interprofessional competencies, or on developing and maintaining interprofessional relationships outside of training. For psychologists in medical settings, these concepts are inextricably linked, and supervision must combine these professional practices to successfully meet the needs of psychology trainees, patients, and interprofessional colleagues, in an increasingly integrated healthcare landscape. This paper presents a model for advancing interprofessional collaborative practice competencies in supervision as health psychology trainees progress through the developmental stages of clinical competency, while supervising psychologists also maintain interprofessional relationships. The Interprofessional Collaboration Supervision Model (IPCSM)for Psychology describes trainee, patient, and interprofessional team factors for supervising psychologists to consider in supervision, as well as various interventions to deploy when these interrelated dynamics impact training. Case examples are provided along with discussion on how to implement this model in supervision.

Developing IPEC Competencies for an Evolving Professional Landscape: Q&A with Jeffery Stewart, DDS

Jeffery Stewart, DDS, MS, a consultant to the American Dental Education Association, met with Meg Zomorodi, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN, of UNC-Chapel Hill, to discuss the latest revisions to the IPEC Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice. Released in November 2023, these updated competencies build on previous versions from 2011 and 2016 to incorporate the perspectives of seven new IPEC member organizations and reflect the continuously evolving research, policy, education, and practice landscape.

Fostering collaborative practice through interprofessional simulation for occupational therapy, physiotherapy, dietetics, and nursing students

ABSTRACT Literature regarding simulation for learning interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) indicates a need to include a range of health professions and to focus on students’ development of team communication and conflict resolution skills in day-to-day healthcare delivery. This study evaluated the impact of interprofessional simulation for occupational therapy, physiotherapy, dietetics, and nursing students on interprofessional collaboration competencies, specifically collaborative communication and conflict resolution during day-to-day interactions, and their intention for IPCP during placement. A series of simulations featuring the potential for interprofessional conflict and involving explicit coaching on communication and conflict resolution were conducted. A single cohort pre-test post-test design included the Students’ Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education Revised (SPICE-R), the Interprofessional Collaborative Competencies Attainment Survey (ICCAS), and an open response survey question on future intended practice. A total of 237 students participated in the simulation experience. Overall scores and scores on all IPCP competencies in the ICASS (n = 193) and SPICE-R (n = 226) improved for all professions post-simulation. The mean score of the ICCAS increased for 98% of the respondents and similarly the mean score of the SPICE-R increased for 71% of the respondents. Open-ended responses indicated students’ intentions to pursue self-leadership in IPCP. Students who participated in an interprofessional simulation reported perceived improvements in IPCP competencies and were encouraged to initiate IPCP when on placement in the practice setting.

STUDENTS GAIN APPRECIATION FOR PATIENT-CENTERED AND TEAM-BASED CARE PARTICIPATING IN A GERIATRIC CASE COMPETITION

Abstract Health science students must attain interprofessional teamwork and collaboration competencies to provide effective, patient-centered care to older adults requiring complex care. However, students typically learn in disciplinary silos and lack engaging opportunities for interprofessional teamwork. To provide students with an interprofessional learning activity the Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Programs (GWEP) at Saint Louis University and the University of Minnesota implemented a Geriatric Case Competition. We present the students’ experience with the 2022 competition. Students assigned to interprofessional teams with a coach had one month to prepare a 20-25 minute presentation of a comprehensive care plan using a simulated complex geriatric patient case. Judges scored team presentations using a rubric of core competencies for interprofessional collaborative practice. Each GWEP held local competitions with winning teams presenting at the inter-GWEP competition held via live videoconferencing. Top scoring teams received prizes. Students completed an eight-item satisfaction survey using a 5 point likert scale (5=poor to 1=excellent). Answers to open ended questions were analyzed qualitatively to find themes about their experience. 132 students joined the competition and 54 completed an evaluation survey (response rate 41%). Students rated their experience as good to excellent with mean ratings on 8 questions ranging from 1.5-2.2 (N=54). Themes included: the importance of patient centered care and the power of multiple perspectives/expertise. Students offered improvements related to student, coach, and judge expectations. In summary, the competition provided a very positive learning activity that helped students value the importance of patient centered care and interprofessional collaboration for older people.

Interprofessional students’ insights into the experiential learning environment: Values, impacts, and alignment with interprofessional collaborative practice competencies and the triple aim

The experiential learning environment offers an ideal opportunity for students to observe and develop their interprofessional competencies. However, it is unclear whether interprofessional concepts are integrated into experiential learning in ways that are tangible and identifiable to the students. This study aimed to gain understanding of which elements of interprofessional collaboration in experiential learning environments are observed by students from various professions during experiential rotations; which of those are most valuable to student learning and which could be improved; in what ways students see interprofessional collaboration in practice impacting learners, provider teams, communities, and health systems; and whether student perceptions of the impacts of interprofessional collaboration align with one or more Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) competency areas and/or components of the Triple/Quadruple Aim. Results demonstrate that students perceive impacts related most often to their individual lens and to patient care and are less frequently focused on system-level observations. Intentional and innovative efforts must be made by academic programs, interprofessional education programs, experiential placement sites, and health professions accreditors to make the impacts on care systems, cost of care, communities, and populations more explicit in the experiential learning environment in pursuit of the Triple Aim.

Pilot Project Exploring Low-tech Collaborative Board Gaming on Student Attitudes Toward Interprofessional Education

Objectives: The intent of this project was to explore the impact of a small, collaborative gaming experience among undergraduate students on student attitudes and beliefs about Interprofessional Education (IPE). Methods: Health sciences librarians at two state universities used a low-tech, collaborative board game to facilitate small, in-person group gaming. The authors used an adapted version of the Interprofessional Attitudes Scale (IPAS), a validated instrument that measures the four domains of the 2011 IPEC Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice, as a pre/post assessment of the impact of the gaming experience. Results: While anecdotal evidence indicated that playing a collaborative board game had an impact on the participating students, there was no statistically based evidence that collaborative board games increases positive or negative attitudes about IPE and interprofessional collaborative practice. Conclusions: More student participation is required for statistical significance, recruiting students and ensuring that students have enough time to complete the game play is key to future possible success.

Implementation of a Virtual Simulation-based Teamwork Training Program for Emergency Events in the Perioperative Setting

Background InformationWorking in interprofessional teams in healthcare is listed as one of the four core competencies for interprofessional collaborative practice. Literature demonstrates that communication failures during emergencies are a large contributor to adverse clinical events that negatively impact patient outcomes. Additionally, The Joint Commission identifies poor communication as a key factor in sentinel events. A survey addressing teamwork and high-quality communication was distributed to the Perioperative Department, which revealed that the "communication openness" category received a score below AHRQ benchmark. The perioperative leadership team was tasked with developing strategic working groups in response to the poorly scored communication domain.Objectives of Project(1) Participants will be able to implement the communication tool represented within the TeamSTEPPS platform; (2) Participants will be able to discuss the importance of effective communication during emergency clinical events; (3) Participants will be able to optimize teamwork communication skills to improve patient outcomes during emergency clinical events.Process of ImplementationThe team discussed and leveraged the survey findings to develop innovative ways to improve communication for the Perioperative team, including physicians, nurses, and ancillary staff. As a part of the action plan, the team decided to use simulation education aimed toward effective communication during emergency clinical events. However, COVID-19 required social distancing-based learning. Therefore, the team developed an experiential-learning-rich presentation with pre-recorded clinical emergency videos of participatory, active simulation to demonstrate the main teamwork and communication tools represented within the TeamSTEPPS model. All disciplines participated in role-playing communication aids to demonstrate teamwork and handoff scenarios depicted within the observed simulation video clips.Statement of Successful PracticeOpen-ended anonymous surveys distributed after sessions demonstrated that individuals participating in the virtual simulation sessions has allowed for increased opportunities to effectively communicate based on shared goals, shared knowledge, and mutual respect during clinical emergency events and daily practice. Additionally, participants reported intentions to apply the TeamSTEPPS concepts, such as situational awareness, mutual support, and communication in their future practices.Implications for Advancing the Practice of Perianesthesia NursingUtilizing observed virtual simulation methods of team training allows for future opportunities of distributed learning for high fidelity team training sessions in efforts to improve communication between the perioperative team and optimize care of all Perianesthesia patient populations.

Patient and family perceptions of interprofessional collaborative teamwork: An integrative review.

To understand the patient and family perceptions of teamwork by synthesising existing evidence using the Interprofessional Education Collaborative Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice as a guiding framework. Advances in healthcare have resulted in more people living longer with health conditions, and patients and families have become the primary caregivers. The role of the interprofessional collaborative team supports a paradigm shift to a care model with the patient and family at the centre of healthcare decisions. However, patient and family views of interprofessional collaborative team care have rarely been studied. The authors applied Whittmore and Knafl's methodology to conduct an integrative review of the literature. Databases searched included Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, PubMed and PsycINFO along with reference searches. The studies included were those related to patient and family perceptions of teamwork published from 2000 to 2020. The IPEC Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice served as the guiding framework for analysis. A PRISMA flow chart documented the search, inclusion and exclusion criteria for the review. Seventeen articles met the inclusion criteria. The findings identified differing perspectives by patients of the impact of the interprofessional collaborative team in their care which suggests that interventions to increase knowledge about interprofessional collaborative team care from the patient and family perspective may be beneficial. There is limited research on understanding IPC teams from the patient and family viewpoint. This review reveals incongruencies in patient and provider perspectives of IPC teams and suggests the need for additional research about patient and family perspectives of teamwork. To fully implement the IPC team vision, perceptions of teamwork must be fully understood.

Taking an interprofessional collaborative practice to the next level: Strategies to promote high performing teams

Interprofessional collaborative practice is an effective model to deliver care to vulnerable populations. Nurse-led interprofessional clinics have shown improvements in patient outcomes including patients with heart failure. Yet, few studies report the sustainability of high performing interprofessional teams. The purpose of this paper is to describe the interventions and strategies implemented by the Heart Failure Transitional Care Services for Adults Clinic team over a 4-year time period to hardwire and promote high team performance and interprofessional collaboration as well as the ongoing evaluation of team function. This prospective study used an implementation science design so that important information learned could be easily translated into practice in a timely way. All domains of the SOAP-C questionnaire improved over time. Four of 7 domains in the CPAT questionnaire also improved over time. Team assessment revealed the team is in the performing stage of Tuckman's stages of team development. Working to build a high performing nurse-led interprofessional team that cares for underserved patients with heart failure is challenging, yet achievable. Our findings extend our previous work and support others who utilize the interprofessional collaborative practice model to improve health outcomes. • Successful integration of interprofessional collaborative practice competencies is achievable. • Consistent and focused attention on the entire team is essential for high performing teams. • Integration of interprofessional collaborative practice competencies can assist teams to become high performing teams.

Educating Mental Health Nurse Practitioners on Interprofessional Collaboration and Preparing Them for Collaborative Practice.

Although interprofessional collaboration (IPC) has been discussed for over 40 years, in nursing education as well as the majority of health professionals, education continues to primarily take place in silos with curricula that is discipline specific. Educators need to implement models of education that are linked to collaborative practice and team-based care. To introduce the principles from the Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice and the National Organization of Nurse Practitioners Faculties Nurse Practitioner Core Competencies into the coursework. To demonstrate an application process for incorporating collaboration in their future nurse practitioner roles. Students in the Doctor of Nursing Practice mental health nurse practitioner program participated in a set of assignments to develop essential knowledge and skills for integration of IPC into practice. A pretest-posttest design was used to evaluate student attitudes towards IPC following immersion in IPC subject matter and experiential learning with other healthcare providers working together to coordinate patient care. There were significant findings for six of the 18 survey questions. This project can serve as an example for successful implementation of IPE in the nursing curricula.

An Inter-University Virtual Geriatric Case Competition to Build Interprofessional Collaboration Skills

Developing positive learning experiences in team-based geriatric care is challenging. This presentation will highlight an inter-University geriatric case competition for developing interprofessional competencies in health professional students sponsored by the Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Programs at Saint Louis University and the University of Minnesota. The virtual competition involved teams of 4-5 undergraduate and graduate students from multiple health professions who designed a comprehensive care plan using a simulated complex geriatric patient case. Students were assigned to an interprofessional team with a faculty or community expert coach, attended an orientation, and developed a 20-minute recorded presentation. A panel of judges rated team presentations using a scoring rubric based on the Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice. Local competitions included a first and semi-final round, with the winning teams presenting at the inter-university competition held via live videoconferencing that involved a question-and-answer session. Prizes were given to the top teams. Students, coaches, and judges completed evaluation surveys focused on satisfaction with the competition format/procedures and achievement of interprofessional competencies. Twenty-one teams and 117 students from 12 disciplines participated. Team scores ranged from 2.2 to 4.3 (overall mean 3.1) on a 1-5 scale. Judge, coach, and student evaluations were positive, indicating students learned valuable lessons in group dynamics, team-based care, and geriatric care. Most students (82%) preferred the virtual competition format or had no preference on format. The virtual case competition provided a positive, engaging experience to introduce health professional students to geriatric team-based care and develop their readiness for collaborative practice.

Getting to know you: implementing an interprofessional education program for medical and respiratory therapy students in mechanical ventilation – challenges and lessons learned

ABSTRACT The physician and respiratory therapist function as an interprofessional team caring for patients on mechanical ventilation. There is a paucity of research devoted to interprofessional education (IPE) of students from different professions in mechanical ventilation during clinical rotations in the medical intensive care unit (MICU). Student interprofessional education could develop team communication and shared decision-making skills early in training. The uniqueness of this introductory IPE programme is that it occurs during a clinical rotation in a real MICU, as opposed to a pre-clinical simulated campus setting, and it blends students from various educational backgrounds. Medical students and respiratory therapy students from different academic institutions participated in traditional lectures, small interprofessional group case-based problem-solving sessions, MICU bedside teaching sessions, written assessments, and focus groups. Quantitative responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Qualitative responses were categorised using the core competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice. The purpose of this introductory IPE programme was to foster opportunities for interprofessional interaction during the student clinical experience while improving knowledge about mechanical ventilation. Qualitative expectations and feedback were predominantly positive. Quantitative responses suggest that students from both disciplines gained knowledge about mechanical ventilation in an IPE setting.

Measuring interprofessional education and collaborative practice competencies: a content validity study of the Jefferson Teamwork Observation Guide®

ABSTRACT Collaborative practice (CP) is integral in meeting the Quadruple Aim of healthcare, with effective team-based practice linked to improving all four components. Evidence of the validity of tools measuring collaborative practice competencies is lacking in educational and practice settings. The Jefferson Teamwork Observation Guide® (JTOG®), a real-time, 360-degree competency-based assessment tool administered via mobile app, provides formative feedback to learners in educational settings and helps practitioners develop and refine team-based behaviors in clinical settings. This study examines content validity evidence in terms of the linkage of JTOG items with the four Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) core competencies, along with two additional domains of leadership and patient-centeredness. Results provide content validity evidence to support use of the JTOG in interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) settings. The Teams and Teamwork competency was linked with every item, which is consistent with JTOG as a measure of teamwork. Aligning with the 2016 IPEC update, the JTOG items are all intercorrelated and together represent coverage across all competency areas. While items were typically linked to multiple competencies, each item only had one primary linkage. Analyses revealed that there is sufficient evidence of content validity relative to the intended IPCP competencies, and the JTOG tool is promising in its role to fill a gap in extant literature to measure collaborative practice behaviors.

Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice Among Teacher Education, Health and Social Care Students in a Large Scaled Blended Learning Course.

IntroductionSociety’s demands for better coordination of services for children are increasing. Interprofessional learning (IPL) has been suggested to achieve the triple aim of better services, better outcomes and reduced costs. The aims were to assess 1) to what extent students taking teacher education, health and social care programmes agreed that blended learning was a suitable approach in a mandatory IPL course, 2) to what extent they had learnt about the WHO’s core IPL competencies (roles and responsibilities, values and ethics, interprofessional communication, and teams and teamwork), and 3) the students’ ranking of the learning outcomes from different components of the IPL course.MethodsThis was a quantitative cross-sectional study. Students completed an online course evaluation after a two-day combination of online and face-to-face IPL small-group training.FindingsThe response rate was 25.8% (n=363). Among the students, 60.6% strongly agreed that blended learning was suitable, while 8.9% strongly disagreed. Among the respondents, 46.8%, 50.2%, 56.8% and 62.3% gained increased insight into roles and responsibilities, values and ethics, interprofessional communication, and teams and teamwork, respectively. In ascending order, students were most satisfied with the learning outcomes from the supervision (16.0%), the syllabus (28.6%), the submission assignment (42.4%), the digital learning content of Canvas (43.8%), the combination of everything (43.8%), and the IPL group discussions (78.6%). In stratified analyses, ‘teacher education and child welfare students’ were significantly more likely to gain better insight into the WHO competencies than “health and social care students”, and they were also more overall satisfied.ConclusionStudents agreed that blended learning was a suitable approach, although the learning outcomes from the face-to-face discussions were markedly higher than from other course components. While the majority had learnt something about the WHO competencies, the teacher and child welfare students achieved the best learning outcomes, including new knowledge about the WHO competencies.

Virtual Interprofessional Learning Due to COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated sweeping changes in a neonatal nurse practitioner (NNP) program's approach to distance-accessible learning. Prioritizing student learning and safety, we developed a new alternative model for individualized simulation. The scenario created for a student to deliver an unexpected diagnosis of trisomy 21, or Down syndrome, to a postpartum mother was redesigned to take place using web-conference technology. We successfully transitioned the planned in-person individualized simulation for NNP students delivering an unexpected diagnosis to a web-conference environment and added nurse-midwifery (NM) students. This simulation presented an authentic clinical situation encountered in practice, supporting the specialty-specific competencies for the NNP, NM, and core competencies for interprofessional collaborative practice. The web-conference platform is an effective strategy for simulation. Advanced practice nurses completing individualized simulation through technology are uniquely poised to leverage these skills as telemedicine increasingly influences their future clinical practice. [J Nurs Educ. 2021;60(6):346-351.].

Developing interprofessional collaborative practice competencies in rural primary health care teams

BackgroundLeaders from a university, Area Health Education Center, and primary care centers (PCCs) collaborated to integrate Interprofessional Collaborative Practice (IPCP) in PCCs. PurposeDescribe the facilitators and barriers of IPCP implementation in rural clinics and the impact on decision-making and safety culture. MethodsThe implementation team used engagement strategies to support the development of IPCP. PCC team participants completed surveys measuring collaboration and satisfaction with care decisions and safety culture. Qualitative data were analyzed to describe facilitators and barriers to IPCP. FindingsSignificant improvement (p < .035) in the Global Amount of Collaboration made over time. Barriers to IPCP included high turnover, hierarchical culture, lack of role clarity, competing time demands, limited readiness for change, and physical space limitations. Facilitators included structured huddles, alignment of IPCP with organizational goals, and academic-practice partnership. DiscussionPartnering with academic-practice partnerships may facilitate collaboration and team learning as PCCs incorporate IPCP into practice.

Interprofessional Team Approach Using Standardized Patient Simulation to Facilitate Person-Centered Quality Healthcare in Home Hospice Care Setting.

Hospice care requires person-centered holistic approaches from interprofessional health care teams. Traditional curricular models include teaching hospice care in discipline-specific didactic settings. There are limited opportunities for prelicensure students to engage in real-life and hands-on hospice care. Students are often observers and lack meaningful interactions with patients, families, and interprofessional teams. Using "IPEC Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice" and "AACN CARES" as the framework, nursing and social work faculty collaborated to develop, implement, and evaluate an interprofessional home hospice simulation incorporating standardized patients. The purpose of this interprofessional simulation was to facilitate hands-on application of complex health care concepts in an authentic home hospice setting. Twenty-three Bachelor of Science in Nursing students and 10 Master of Social Work students participated as interprofessional teams to provide home hospice care for patients and families. Faculty evaluated the simulation experience through analysis of presimulation and postsimulation guided reflections, intrasimulation observations, and postsimulation debriefing. Evaluation indicated students gained a greater understanding of how to provide quality person-centered end-of-life care, increased comfort with assessing spiritual needs, increased confidence in initiating sensitive interactions, and greater appreciation for working in an interprofessional health care team. This interprofessional simulation provided a robust learning environment paving the way for future simulations incorporating additional members of the health care team.

First-Trimester Abortion Complications: Simulation Cases for OB/GYN Residents in Sepsis and Hemorrhage

IntroductionSerious complications associated with first-trimester abortions are rare. The US mortality rate for these procedures is 0.7 per 100,000, primarily due to infection and hemorrhage. While complications are unlikely to arise during training, residents must be prepared to manage them in practice. To address this, we developed a 2-hour simulation-based abortion complication curriculum for OB/GYN resident learners.MethodsOB/GYN residents participated in three sessions: a case-based didactic reviewing institutional aspiration abortion practice and preop preparation; an in-vivo aspiration abortion hemorrhage simulation; and an interdepartmental postabortal sepsis simulation. Participants completed surveys before and after their participation that evaluated clinical knowledge, and self-rated competence in, and preparedness for, managing first-trimester abortion complications.ResultsResident learners (N = 26) represented all four classes of OB/GYN residents. Residents initially showed stronger clinical knowledge in managing postabortal hemorrhage than sepsis (90% vs. 62%, p < .001). Clinical knowledge improved following the sepsis simulation (62% to 91%, p < .001), and remained strong but unchanged after the hemorrhage simulation (90% to 87%, p = .3). Resident self-assessments of competence and preparedness were significantly improved after both the hemorrhage (p = .006) and sepsis (p = .002) simulations. Learners reported that the simulation increased their level of comfort in managing these complications in their future practice.DiscussionPostabortal hemorrhage and sepsis simulations increased OB/GYN residents' knowledge, comfort, and preparedness for managing rare complications of first-trimester abortions. In-vivo simulation and interdepartmental collaboration were novel aspects of these simulations that may facilitate increased preparedness and management skills.

Howard University College of Medicine.

Howard University College of Medicine.

Interprofessional education during the COVID-19 pandemic: finding the good in a bad situation

ABSTRACT COVID-19 restrictions necessitated wholescale conversion of curricula to online learning environments globally. We used a mixed-methods study design to evaluate the conversion of a large foundational interprofessional course, at our university, to an asynchronous online learning environment. A survey was used to gauge if students learned interprofessionally and about interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP). A COVID-19 discussion board was used to assess learner knowledge of their own and other health professions and value for IPCP. Survey results indicated students perceived the online session as effective as it would have been in person. The COVID-19 discussion board presented evidence that students met all Interprofessional Education Collaborative core competencies for IPCP, shared knowledge of their and other health professions, and expressed the value and essentiality of IPCP. Findings support social context as a main requisite for interprofessional education, and within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, students were able to heighten their connection to the global interprofessional community. Circumstances surrounding COVID-19 highlight the need for increasing IPCP education. One unforeseen positive that has emerged in spite of this global catastrophe is enhanced student awareness of IPCP and interprofessional comradery as evidenced through student discussions in this course.