Formal Interprofessional Education Research Articles

Status of Interprofessional Education (IPE) Implementation in Asian Nursing Schools.

Interprofessional Education (IPE) is a necessary step in preparing a collaborative practice-ready health workforce that is better prepared to respond to local and global health needs. This study examined the status of IPE implementation in Asian nursing schools in the World Health Organization (WHO) Western Pacific Region (WPR). Descriptive online survey research design was utilized, supplemented by online interviews. Purposive sampling was done wherein nursing schools, colleges, and universities were invited to nominate a representative to serve as respondent in this study. Descriptive approach was used to analyze both quantitative and qualitative data. A total of 29 Asian nursing schools participated in the survey. Majority (82.76%) of them stated that they have an IPE program or a similar activity. Interviews with the respondents revealed that not all IPE opportunities were part of a formal IPE program, but were embedded in the different learning activities of nursing students. A clear program focus served as one of the facilitators of IPE implementation. Identified barriers included insufficient administrative support and lack of trained faculty to implement IPE and related activities. IPE is present in most Asian nursing schools in WPR. They may not exactly be called or recognized as IPE, but there is the existence of programs and activities that bring together health and non-health science students to learn from, about, and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes. It is recommended that massive formal training should be conducted so that educational institutions and their faculty will be equipped in developing more formal programs, facilitate activities, and monitor implementation and progress.

Perceptions of academic deans regarding interprofessional education and its implementation in dental colleges in India: results of a national survey

ABSTRACT This national survey was conducted to assess perceptions and status of implementation of interprofessional education in dental colleges in India. An online link to the questionnaire survey was sent to Deans and Academic Deans of those dental colleges having more than one health profession institute on the same campus. The response rate was 47%. Dental colleges’ primary collaborative partner was a medical faculty (46%), with the majority of IPE experiences occurring in post-graduation (58%). Lectures (54%), case-based discussions (64%) were reported to be predominant teaching-learning methods, while written exams (40%), small group participation, and group projects (30%) were predominant assessment methods of IPE experiences. Seventy-six percent responded that there are no faculty development initiatives for IPE while 20% responded that IPE is at planning/developmental stage and 38% responded that IPE is not considered presently. Faculty resistance (32%), academic calendars, and schedule (34%) were pointed out to be the most common barriers to implementing IPE. The findings revealed that although the concept and importance of IPE were well perceived by Academic Deans throughout dental colleges in India, and although dental colleges’ co-existed with other faculties on same campus, IPE was not systematically implemented with minimal formal interprofessional education involving dental students.

Interprofessional Image Verification Workshop for Physician and Physics Residents: A Multi-Institutional Experience

Verification of patient position through pretreatment setup imaging is crucial in modern radiation therapy. As treatment complexity increases and technology evolves, physicist-physician collaboration becomes imperative for safe and successful radiation delivery. Despite the importance of both, residency programs lack formal interprofessional education (IPE) activities or structured training for image verification. Here we show the impact of an interprofessional image verification workshop for residents in a multi-institutional setting. The workshop included a lecture by the attending physicist and physician, and hands-on image registration practice by learners (medical physics residents, MP; and radiation oncology residents, RO). All participants filled out pre- and postactivity surveys and rated their comfort from 1 to 10 in (A) selecting what type of imaging to order for a given case and (B) independently assessing the setup quality based on imaging. A paired 1-tailed t test (α=0.05) was used to evaluate significance; Spearman rank correlation coefficient was used to assess correlation of ratings and RO postgraduate year (PGY). Surveys had free-response questions about IPE and image verification activities in residency. A total of 71 residents from 7 institutions participated between 2018 and 2020. Pre- and postsurveys were completed by 50 residents (38RO, 12MP) and showed an increase in (A) from 5.5 ± 2.2 to 7.1 ± 1.6 (P < .001) and in (B) from 5.1 ± 2.3 to 6.8 ± 1.5 (P < .001), with significant increases per subgroup (AΔ, RO=1.8 ± 1.7, P < .001; BΔ, RO=1.9 ± 1.8, P <. 001; AΔ, MP=1.1 ± 1.4, P=.012; BΔ, MP=1.2 ± 1.6, P=.016). RO confidence scores moderately correlated with PGY. Survey responses indicated that image verification training is mostly unstructured, with extent of exposure varying by program and attending; most with little-to-no training. Time constraints were identified as the main barrier. IPE was noted as a useful way to incorporate different perspectives into the process. Formal image verification training increases resident comfort with setup imaging review and provides opportunities for interprofessional collaboration in radiation oncology residency programs.

Value of Interprofessional Education: The VA Quality Scholars Program.

Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) has been shown to improve healthcare quality and patient safety; however, formal interprofessional education (IPE) training is insufficient. The VA Quality Scholars (VAQS) program exists to develop interprofessional leaders and scholars in healthcare improvement. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of integrating interprofessional healthcare learners and designing an interprofessional curriculum for the national VAQS program. VAQS alumni (graduates from 2001 to 2017) across eight national sites (n = 102 [53.1%]) completed a web-based survey to assess alumni perceptions of IPC skill development during the program and IPC skill utilization in their careers. Alumni from 2009 and earlier were physicians; alumni after 2009 came from diverse health professional backgrounds. Overall, IPC and teamwork was identified as the most used skill (n = 82, 70%) during their career. When comparing the pre-IPE period and the post-IPE period, post-IPE alumni identified IPC and teamwork as the area of greatest skill development (n = 38). Integrating interprofessional trainees and robust IPE curricula enhanced an established and successful quality improvement (QI) training program. VAQS alumni endorsed the importance of IPC skills during their careers. The VAQS program is an example of how health professionals can successfully learn IPC skills in healthcare QI.

How are nurse educators prepared to teach interprofessional practice?

BackgroundWhen healthcare professionals collaborate and communicate well, patients have better health outcomes. Nursing students need to learn interprofessional team skills before they graduate to succeed. Nurse educators are responsible for preparing students to function in interprofessional teams. However, many nursing programs, especially ones with fewer resources, struggle to teach interprofessional collaboration. Experts agree that the first step in implementing interprofessional education is to provide educators with faculty development. Despite this, little is known about if and how nurse educators are prepared to teach interprofessional concepts. ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to explore nurse educator experiences regarding their preparation to teach interprofessional education and to explore how their preparation influenced their teaching. DesignA qualitative multiple case study approach was used to gather information regarding nurse educators' preparation to teach interprofessional education. Data were gathered from interviews and educational documents. SettingsThis study involved three different undergraduate RN programs located in the Western United States. ParticipantsData was gathered from three educators from each of the three different undergraduate nursing programs, for a total of nine participants. MethodsInterview transcripts and educational documents were thematically analyzed using the Interprofessional Education Collaborative's core competencies as a framework. ResultsNone of the educators had participated in any type of formal faculty development to prepare them to teach interprofessional collaboration. Most had an incomplete understanding of interprofessional collaborative practice. Few were aware of the resources available to help them incorporate interprofessional collaboration into their curriculum. Although there were isolated instances where participants taught students communication or teamwork concepts, none of the programs explored had any formal interprofessional education in their curricula. ConclusionsThis study's findings support the need for faculty development if leaders expect nursing educators to teach interprofessional collaboration to students.

Interprofessional Collaborations: Delivering Quality Home Care Services to Patients who are Elderly

This article underscores the importance of inter-professional collaborations when providing home care services to patients who are elderly. The extant research literature illuminates the advantages of inter-professional collaborations in healthcare settings. Benefits such as patient satisfaction, seamless care coordination, and improved health outcomes have long been acknowledged. However, when these care collaborations occur within the home milieu, other patient benefits are evident to include: (a) decreased hospital readmissions; (b) improved daily functioning; (c) reductions in health costs; (d) better informed decision making by providers; and (d) more accurate patient assessments. This review article accentuates inter-professionalism and best practices when caring for persons who are elderly in their home environment. Keywords: Inter-professional, Home Care, Home Care for the Elderly Objective: To educate the readership on the benefits of using an inter-professional approach when providing home care to patients who are elderly. Method: A systematic review of the literature is presented which examines inter-professional home care practices with patients who are elderly. The author conducted an electronic literature search for peer-reviewed articles published between 2001and 2021 using the following data bases: EBSCO Host, E-Journal, Academic Search Premier, ERIC, Academic Search Complete, and ScienceDirect. Eighty percent of the articles reviewed were published within the last seven years. The delimitation of extending the review to the past 20 years ensures relevance to the population being studied and health system contexts. The search strategy included select key words (inter-professional approach, home care, home care for the elderly), either separately or in combination. The literature selection process resulted in the inclusion of 49 journal articles in this review. Results: The extant literature provides a clear rationale for using inter-professional collaboration when serving patients who are elderly in the home setting. More inclusive research is needed in order to better delineate the notions and needs of diverse disciplines (e.g., pharmacy, nutrition, speech pathology, physical therapy, occupational therapy, counselors, psychologists, etc.) and to guide more meaningful collaborations. Lastly, a more inclusive theoretical model capturing the key workings of inter-professional collaboration processes is needed. Conclusion: This review article accentuates quality components and best practices for serving elderly persons (inter-professionally) in the home environment. A number of key recommendations are made to more systematically improve team-based care. This article will serve as the foundation for a professional book on inter-professional collaboration. At least 8 disciplines will be invited to contribute a chapter to the book. These contributions will provide a medium for formal inter-professional education.

The future of health professions education: Emerging trends in the United States.

The future of health professions education: Emerging trends in the United States.

Understanding health care professionals' attitudes towards working in teams and interprofessional collaborative competencies: A mixed methods analysis

Abstract Background To meet the challenge of preparing health care professionals for collaborative practice, it is crucial to understand factors that influence their ability to collaborate effectively. Method This study employed a convergent parallel mixed methods design to better understand health care professional' attitudes towards working in teams and their interprofessional collaborative competencies. The quantitative strand utilized validated questionnaires to measure attitudes and collaborative competencies, and the qualitative strand utilized open ended questions to understand how health care professionals work in teams and the interprofessional collaborative competencies they feel they need to work in teams. This article reports the findings from the qualitative strand and mixed methods analysis; the quantitative results are published in a separate manuscript. Results A descriptive content analysis was completed to analyze the qualitative data, which resulted in three categories: (1) Communication, which includes two subcategories, Effective Communication and Ineffective Communication, (2) Value, and (3) Roles. Conclusion The findings from this study suggest that interprofessional collaboration appears to be influenced by numerous factors, including the type of formal interprofessional education health care professionals complete and how often formal IPE is completed. Equally important is the need to integrate principles related to effective communication, role clarification, and strategies to uphold relationships where value, trust, respect, and validation occur.

Interprofessional Education in the Context of Feeding and Swallowing

Introduction Speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, and registered dietitian nutritionists are intricately involved in the management of feeding and swallowing disorders. An interprofessional education (IPE) event was held with graduate level students from these disciplines as an opportunity to practice professional collaboration around the topic of food intake. The purpose of this study was to assess the change in these healthcare students’ perceptions of interprofessional collaboration following the interactive IPE event to determine the benefits of incorporating IPE into the curriculum. Methods 128 students, across three healthcare disciplines (speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, and dietetics), participated in an online survey before and after the IPE event regarding their attitudes toward interprofessional healthcare teams. The IPE event focused on feeding and swallowing, included lectures from professors representing each discipline, and featured an interactive lab portion highlighting the role each discipline plays in the treatment of feeding and swallowing disorders. Results Overall, students’ perceptions of interprofessional collaboration across all three departments significantly increased after the IPE event, suggesting that students considered the IPE event to be a beneficial experience. Considerable improvement was noted on questions regarding the individual role and others’ roles in an interdisciplinary setting. Conclusion These findings suggest that formal IPE events improve students’ perceptions and understanding of how a collaborative team works together using each discipline’s scope of practice.

Dental participation in geriatric interprofessional education courses: A systematic review.

Although the interdisciplinary management of the ageing individual is highly stressed, there is limited information on the outcomes of interprofessional education (IPE) activities of dental students in geriatrics. This systematic review aimed to identify studies with dentists participating in formal IPE courses in geriatrics and assess the outcomes reported. Electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL and Scopus), reference lists from relevant studies and cited papers were investigated. The inclusion criteria were as follows: about formal interactive learning; learners from at least 2 disciplines; including dentists; related to geriatrics; any study design; reporting any outcome; only full papers; published in peer-reviewed journals; English language. Of the 1259 records retrieved, 26 were assessed for eligibility based on defined inclusion criteria and 7 studies were included in the final analysis. Two studies reported specific outcomes for dentists with lower, or even negative, post-training scores for interprofessional collaborative practice competences compared to other disciplines, but only one of them used a previously validated scale. There were no reports on the effect of IPE courses on dental trainees' gerodontology skill improvements or on their attitudes towards the older persons. The existing evidence is insufficient to determine any outcomes of formal interprofessional training of dentists in geriatrics. More studies with better experimental design should be developed. Among the strengths of IPE in geriatrics are the interdisciplinary nature of geriatric care, the sharing of common geriatric competences among participating disciplines and the opportunity to use nursing homes as a training site.

Developing a grounded theory for interprofessional collaboration acquisition using facilitator and actor perspectives in simulated wilderness medical emergencies.

Interprofessional collaboration is a complex process that has the potential to transform patient care for the better in urban, rural and remote healthcare settings. Simulation has been found to improve participants' interprofessional competencies, but the mechanisms by which interprofessionalism is learned have yet to be understood. A rural wilderness medicine conference (WildER Med) in northern Ontario, Canada with simulated medical scenarios has been demonstrated to be effective in improving participants' collaboration without formal interprofessional education (IPE) curriculum. Interprofessionalism may be taught through rural and remote medical simulation, as done in WildER Med where participants' interprofessional competencies improved without any formal IPE curriculum. This learning may be attributed to the informal and hidden curriculum. Understanding the mechanism by which this rural educational experience contributed to participants' learning to collaborate requires insight into the events before, during and after the simulations. The authors drew upon feedback from facilitators and patient actors in one-on-one interviews to develop a grounded theory for how collaboration is taught and learned. Sharing emerged as the core concept of a grounded theory to explain how team members acquired interprofessional collaboration competencies. Sharing was enacted through the strategies of developing common goals, sharing leadership, and developing mutual respect and understanding. Further analysis of the data and literature suggests that the social wilderness environment was foundational in enabling sharing to occur. Medical simulations in other rural and remote settings may offer an environment conducive to collaboration and be effective in teaching collaboration. When designing interprofessional education, health educators should consider using emergency response teams or rural community health teams to optimize the informal and hidden curriculum contributing to interprofessional learning.

Formal interprofessional education needed to prepare professional case managers of the future

Abstract Demands for greater accountability and transparency in health care are increasing the visibility of professional case managers, including to fulfill the crucial care coordination role. While the competency of professional case managers can be assured through board certification, there is a growing need for preparation of case managers as they transition into the practice. This concern is also highlighted by recent research in the case management field, in which 89% of respondents said they use on-the-job training as their primary method to learn case management. Given the interdisciplinary nature of case management, there is a greater need to address how health and human services professionals are prepared for the advanced practice of case management. With few formal education programs in case management, greater dialogue and cooperation among interprofessional educators and case management leaders are needed to ensure a robust case management workforce development pipeline is established, with more professionals from multiple disciplines entering at earlier stages in their careers.

Interprofessional Education in the Internal Medicine Clerkship Post-LCME Standard Issuance: Results of a National Survey.

Several decades of work have detailed the value and goals of interprofessional education (IPE) within the health professions, defining IPE competencies and best practices. In 2013, the Liaison Committee for Medical Education (LCME) elevated IPE to a U.S. medical school accreditation standard. To examine the status of IPE within internal medicine (IM) clerkships including perspectives, curricular content, barriers, and assessment a year after the LCME standard issuance. Anonymous online survey. IM clerkship directors from each of the Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine's 121 U.S. and Canadian member medical schools in 2014. In 2014, a section on IPE (18 items) was included in the Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine annual survey of its 121 U.S. and Canadian member medical schools. Items (18) assessed clerkship director (CD) perspectives, status of IPE curricula in IM clerkships, and barriers to IPE implementation. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis of free-text responses to one of the survey questions. The overall survey response rate was 78% (94/121). The majority (88%) agreed that IPE is important to the practice of IM, and 71% believed IPE should be part of the IM clerkship. Most (76%) CDs agreed there is need for faculty development programs in IPE; 27% had such a program at their institution. Lack of curricular time, scheduling conflicts, and lack of faculty trained in IPE were the most frequently cited barriers. Twenty-nine percent had formal IPE activities within their IM clerkships, and 38% were planning to make changes. Of those with formal IPE activities, over a third (37%) did not involve student assessment. Since LCME standard issuance, only a minority of IM clerkships have included formal IPE activities, with lectures as the predominant method. Opportunities exist for enhancing educational methods as well as IPE faculty development.

Prelicensure Simulation-Enhanced Interprofessional Education: A Critical Review of the Research Literature.

This review explores the state of prelicensure interprofessional education (IPE) using simulation-based education (SBE) by examining studies that use SBE for prelicensure IPE through a critical review of the research literature. We focus particularly on studies that included experiential SBE with reported measures and formal IPE with prelicensure participants from at least 2 health care professions. Fifty-four studies met criteria. We explore these studies, providing a compilation of information (e.g., educational, simulation, and research methods used; outcome measures reported; and demographics of learner groups), identifying themes that may affect learning, as well as surfacing challenges and gaps in the field. The quality and rigor of the existing literature is inadequate to confidently determine factors that affect learning through simulation-enhanced IPE. We suggest that more rigorous research criteria be included in future studies and a list of reporting items be provided, where future publications can enhance knowledge to guide best practice in simulation-enhanced IPE.

“Refreshed…reinforced…reflective”: A qualitative exploration of interprofessional education facilitators’ own interprofessional learning and collaborative practice

While there is extensive research examining the outcomes of interprofessional education (IPE) for students, minimal research has investigated how facilitating student learning influences the facilitators themselves. This exploratory case study aimed to explore whether and how facilitating IPE influences facilitators’ own collaborative practice attitudes, knowledge, and workplace behaviours. Sixteen facilitators of an online pre-licensure IPE unit for an Australian university participated in semi-structured telephone interviews. Inductive thematic analysis revealed three emergent themes and associated subthemes characterising participants’ reflexivity as IPE facilitators: interprofessional learning; professional behaviour change; and collaborative practice expertise. Participants experienced interprofessional learning in their role as facilitators, improving their understanding of other professionals’ roles, theoretical and empirical knowledge underlying collaborative practice, and the use and value of online communication. Participants also reported having changed several professional behaviours, including improved interprofessional collaboration with colleagues, a change in care plan focus, a less didactic approach to supervising students and staff, and greater enthusiasm impressing the value of collaborative practice on placement students. Participants reported having acquired their prior interprofessional collaboration expertise via professional experience rather than formal learning opportunities and believed access to formal IPE as learners would aid their continuing professional development. Overall, the outcomes of the IPE experience extended past the intended audience of the student learners and positively impacted on the facilitators as well.

20 Years Beyond the Crossroads: The Path to Interprofessional Education at U.S. Dental Schools

In 2003, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) called for interprofessional education (IPE) to be adopted by the health professions education community as the pedagogical approach to educating future practitioners for practice in multidisciplinary teams. In dentistry, this call built on points made in the key 1995 IOM report Dental Education at the Crossroads. Currently, IPE and collaborative practice are among the most significant changes to health care education and delivery in the 21st century. This report describes the path that dental education has taken regarding IPE since the first national report on the subject was released in 1995. It also reports the results of a 2014 survey of U.S. dental schools to ascertain their progress in adopting and implementing IPE, as well as perceived obstacles that persist. Of the 63 dental schools, 62 participated, for a response rate of 98%. While over 90% of the respondents reported that their schools offer IPE experiences, only 58.1% had formal university-led and -promoted IPE programs. Formal IPE experiences were more prevalent at public institutions (67.6%, compared with 44% of private institutions). In 2012, a previous study reported that 66% of the IPE experiences offered to dental students were voluntary; today, 69.1% of these activities are required. Interprofessional core competencies occupy four of the top five content areas of IPE programming, providing a framework for schools to implement IPE activities. However, finding the bandwidth within the dental curriculum to accommodate IPE competencies, identifying adequate time in the schedule, providing faculty training, and assessing IPE activities were the most frequently reported challenges. The results of this survey lead to recommendations for academic dental institutions moving through this transitional phase in adopting IPE.

Interprofessional sepsis education module: a pilot study.

Although there is an increasing emphasis on interprofessional collaboration for safer health care systems, there remains a paucity of opportunities for postgraduate trainees to engage in formal interprofessional education (IPE). Current opportunities for interprofessional learning, such as simulation sessions, typically do not provide true IPE because they often utilize actors or confederates as support staff, making residents the only stakeholders in the education experience. Here, we describe a flexible educational module designed to provide genuine IPE for physicians, nurses, and respiratory therapists. We outline how simulation, feedback, and group discussions can be used to teach interprofessional team communication, collaboration, and crew resource management skills-while, at the same time, also teaching a highly relevant medical topic (sepsis management) and thus resulting in learner engagement and motivation.

Elements and enablers for interprofessional education clinical placements in diabetes teams.

The purpose of this review is to describe the elements and enablers for interprofessional education (IPE) clinical placements in diabetes teams. We describe the development of an IPE clinical placement for health professional students in a diabetes team and share the lessons learned over 6 years, from 2008 to 2013. The 6 collaborative practice competencies of the Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative and the requirements for Accreditation of Interprofessional Health Professional Education opportunities guided the development of an IPE clinical placement in a diabetes team. A formal IPE clinical placement in diabetes teams requires attention to the site and diabetes team-specific elements and enablers for IPE. That includes students and preceptors from 2 or more health professions, a formal curriculum on collaborative care, adequate IPE resources and strong institutional support for a culture of collaborative care and integration of students in diabetes teams. Diabetes teams can provide a valuable IPE opportunity for health professional students, recognizing that there are challenges that must be addressed in organizational structure of clinical placements in diabetes teams. Studies of the effectiveness of IPE in diabetes teams on collaboration competencies in future diabetes healthcare professionals and long-term patient outcomes are needed.

Informal interprofessional learning: an untapped opportunity for learning and change within the workplace

In this paper, we explore the educational and workplace learning literature to identify the potential and significance for informal interprofessional learning within the workplace. We also examine theoretical perspectives informing informal workplace interprofessional learning. Despite numerous studies focusing on formal interprofessional education programs, we suggest that informal interprofessional learning opportunities are currently unrealized. We highlight reasons for a focus on learning within the workplace and the potential benefits within an interprofessional context.

Fostering Interprofessional Learning in a Rehabilitation Setting: Development of an Interprofessional Clinical Learning Unit

The development and implementation of interprofessional (IP) clinical learning units as a method to enhance IP clinical education and improve patient care in a rehabilitation setting are described. Using a community-based participatory research approach, academia and healthcare delivery agencies formed a partnership to create an IP clinical learning unit in a rehabilitation setting. Preimplementation data from surveys and focus group data identified areas for improvement to enhance IP understanding and collaboration. A working group developed and implemented initiatives to enhance IP practice. Preimplementation, eight themes emerged from which the working group identified goals and implemented strategies to strengthen IP learning. Goals included Creation of an IP Learning Environment, Increased Awareness of IP Practice, Role Clarification, Enhanced IP Communication, and Reflection and Evaluation. Postimplementation data revealed six themes: Communication, Informal IP Learning, Role Awareness, Positive Learning Environment, Logistics, and Challenges. The development of the IP clinical learning unit was successful and rewarding, but not without its challenges. Formal IP education was necessary to enhance collaborative practice, even in a multidisciplinary environment. Commitment and support from all participants, particularly managers and administrators from the healthcare agency, were critical to success. The focus of this unit was on a stroke rehabilitation unit; however, the development and implementation principles identified may be applicable to any team-based clinical setting.