Healthcare Graduates Research Articles

Exploring health care graduates' conceptualisations of preparedness for practice: A longitudinal qualitative research study.

Although preparedness for practice (P4P) has been variously described, little shared understanding exists about what P4P is across the health professions. How P4P is conceptualised matters, because this shapes how stakeholders think, talk about and act towards it. Further, multiple understandings can result in diverse expectations for graduate performance. This study therefore explores health care learners' solicited and unsolicited conceptualisations of P4P over their early graduate transition. We conducted longitudinal qualitative research including individual and group entrance interviews (phase 1: n=35), longitudinal audio-diaries (phase 2: n=30), and individual and group exit interviews (phase 3: n=22) with learners from four disciplines (dietetics, medicine, nursing and pharmacy). We employed framework analysis to interrogate data cross-sectionally and longitudinally. We found 13 conceptualisations of P4P (eg knowledge, confidence), broadly similar across the disciplines. We found some conceptualisations dominant in both solicited and unsolicited talk (eg skills), some dominant only in solicited talk (eg competence) and others dominant only in unsolicited talk (eg experience). Although most conceptualisations appeared relatively stable across time, some appeared to dominate at certain time points only (eg employability and skills in phases 1 and 2, and competence in phase 3). This novel study extends previous uniprofessional work by illustrating a broader array of conceptualisations, differences between professions, solicited versus unsolicited talk and longitudinal cohort patterns. We encourage health care educators to discuss these different P4P understandings in graduate transition interventions. Further research is needed to explore other stakeholders' conceptualisations, and over a duration beyond the early graduate transition.

Predicting Clinical Skills in Graduate Health Sciences Applicants: A Systematic Review

Purpose: The primary purpose of this systematic review was to investigate the ability of admission measures to predict clinical skills in graduate students from a variety of health sciences fields. Method: Online databases were searched for research using application measures to make predictions regarding clinical skill development in graduate students in health sciences fields. Twenty-eight studies were included. Articles were analyzed to determine what, if any, admissions measures predicted academic and clinical success in those graduate health care sciences students as well as the generalizability of various authors' findings and consistency of results across the body of research reviewed. Results: Cognitive measures such as undergraduate grade point averages and standardized test scores, including the Graduate Record Examination, more consistently predicted academic outcomes than clinical outcomes in graduate health care students. Noncognitive measures such as essays, interviews, personality tests, and letters of recommendation were slightly better than cognitive measures at predicting clinical skills. Conclusions: Clinical skills are not well defined, leading to difficulty in developing targeted admission and outcome measures. In addition, it was difficult to compare outcomes of the research due to the wide variety of measures used to assess student potential at the time of admission and the wide variety of outcome measures used to assess academic and clinical proficiency.

Stress and Basic Need Satisfaction of First-Year Healthcare Professional Students.

Transitioning to graduate-level professional school can trigger stressful feelings for many students. The purpose of this study was to determine the stress levels and unmet basic needs of first-year graduate healthcare students during their transition from undergraduate institutions to professional school. The study was conducted at Midwestern University, a private, graduate-level, professional health sciences university located in the Midwest, during the 2018-2019 academic year. The survey was administered to all first-year students within the colleges of dentistry, medicine, optometry, and pharmacy. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) was used to evaluate participants' stress levels and the Basic Need Satisfaction Inventory (BNSI) was used to evaluate unmet basic needs. Of the 523 prospective participants, 404 survey responses were included (77.2% response rate). Female students showed higher perceived stress and lower basic need satisfaction. Perceived stress levels did not differ by professional program when taking into consideration the differences in gender distribution by program. A regression model indicated that gender and basic need satisfaction were the main predictors of perceived stress for healthcare professional students. Higher basic need satisfaction was predictive of lower perceived stress in healthcare professional students. Perceived stress levels remain higher for female students compared to male students.

Screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) expansion of training to non-physician healthcare graduate students: Counseling psychology, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and physician assistant studies

Background Although Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) has now been disseminated in many areas of the United States (US), much remains to be discovered about the training outcomes of non-physician professional trainees such as nurses, physician assistants, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and psychologists following SBIRT training. Methods: Training in SBIRT, an evidence-based approach to screening substance use, was embedded into five health science graduate curricula: Physician Assistant Studies, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Psychology. The SBIRT curriculum was adapted for each profession to include a brief introductory module addressing SBIRT’s relevance for each profession, as well as profession-specific case examples and terminology. Using a nonequivalent group design, participants completed pre-and post-training assessments of substance use related attitudes, perceived competency and knowledge. Data were analyzed using a parametric test to compare pre- and post-differences. Results: Findings suggest improved attitudes as well as increased perceived competencies and core knowledge following the graduate-curriculum embedded SBIRT training, as well as between group differences on the same variables. Conclusions: SBIRT training of non-physician healthcare graduate student-trainees is a feasible training activity and results in improved trainee attitudes, perceived competency, and knowledge. SBIRT training embedded into graduate health science curricula offers an early foundation to this well-established, universal screening approach.

World of EdCraft: Challenges and Opportunities in Synchronous Online Teaching

Online teaching at higher educational institutions has become a much higher priority in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, but most faculty and staff at these institutions are ill-prepared to adapt their teaching methods and content to this new medium. In this article, we describe our approach to dealing with the challenges and opportunities of synchronous online teaching by borrowing ideas and tools from the gaming community. The gamification of education is a well-known concept, but we found few applications in higher-education settings to rely on when we were forced to move online in March 2020. We hope to remedy this gap by providing colleagues with a step-by-step guide to setting up their own home studios, including a complete listing of the software and hardware that we use and how we use them in three distinct online teaching applications: a large (90-student) graduate healthcare finance course at MIT, an even larger (200-student) undergraduate statistics course at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, and a medium-sized (50-student) graduate operations management course at MIT.

A Pilot Study Using Asynchronous Case Discussion and Reflection to Provide Interprofessional Education to Physician Assistant and Physical Therapy Students

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects an asynchronous interprofessional education (IPE) activity had on graduate healthcare students’ beliefs regarding IPE, as measured by the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS). Methods: All first-year physician assistant and physical therapy students participated in a collaborative four-week online case discussion. Students who consented to participate in the research component filled out a pre- and post-activity RIPLS questionnaire. Responses were matched by an individualized, student-generated number to protect students’ identity. Only matched scores were analyzed. Results: The total score as well as the Teamwork and Professional Identity sub-scales were analyzed for pre-post changes using the paired t-test. The Roles and Responsibilities sub-scale was analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed rank test, due to a non-normal data distribution. A significant change (a=0.05) in score was found only in the Roles and Responsibilities sub-scale. Secondary outcomes indicate that a high proportion of the students felt the objectives of the activity were met. Conclusions: Significant changes were found on only one sub-scale of the RIPLS. Therefore, asynchronous IPE delivery does not change graduate healthcare students’ readiness for IPE. The participants felt the activity met its objectives, which indicates that asynchronous IPE delivery may be a viable technique in this population. Future studies should examine the difference between asynchronous and live IPE on the outcomes noted in this pilot study.

Assessing Healthcare Leader Competency Proficiency Levels in Evaluating Graduate Healthcare Leadership Student Competency Proficiency Levels and Curriculum

Healthcare leaders must possess specific competencies to perform their job requirements by identifying what competencies may need development and take steps to further their education, knowledge, and proficiency. This exploratory research aims to utilize industry data when evaluating student competency proficiency and how that data might impact curriculum development. The research question that is addressed: At what competency proficiency level do working healthcare leaders rate themselves utilizing Benner’s Novice to Expert Theory (1982)? Graduate programs should evaluate current industry data to evaluate how students’ progress in their programs and determine if curriculum changes are needed. Graduate programs should also determine a competency proficiency level goal that students will achieve based off stakeholder input. Twenty-two healthcare leaders from a Midwest, non-profit healthcare organization were invited to participate in an online survey that utilized a 5-point Likert scale in which participants rated their level of proficiency across five domains: (a) leadership, (b) professionalism, (c) communication and relationship building, (d) knowledge of the healthcare environment, and (e) business skills. The corresponding competencies were adapted from the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) Competencies Tool (2019) and the Healthcare Leadership Alliance (HLA) Competency Directory (2010). The majority of participants rated themselves between competent and intermediate/advanced on the competencies. Corresponding means and modes were rated highest with levels above three (intermediate) and four (between intermediate/advanced) related to the domains of leadership, professionalism, and communication and relationship building. The domains of knowledge of the healthcare environment and business skills had intermediate and intermediate/advanced ratings with lower means compared to the other three domains. The results of this study could help graduate programs define a program goal for student competency proficiency level and design a plan to utilize industry data to design, evaluate, and update graduate curriculum to help students meet the identified competency proficiency goal.

Developing an interprofessional transition course to improve team-based HIV care for sub-Saharan Africa

BackgroundWith funding from the United States Health Resources Service Administration (HRSA), a consortium of health professional training institutions from Africa developed HIV-specific, interprofessional, team-based educational resources to better support trainees during the transition period between pre-service training and professional practice.MethodsTen faculty members representing nine medical and nursing schools in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) developed a training package of modules focused on core clinical, public health, interprofessional education (IPE), and quality improvement (QI) domains related to HIV service delivery. Curriculum development was informed by a rapid needs assessment of existing tools and future needs for HIV education across 27 SSA health professions training institutions. A total of 17 modules were developed, targeted at newly qualified health care professionals to be taught in a series of two-day workshops meant to complement existing institution specific HIV-curricula.ResultsBetween April and July 2019, a comprehensive case-based HIV training package was developed to support trainees in transition from pre-service training to independent professional practice. Each module, addressing different elements of interprofessional practice, was intended to be delivered in an interprofessional format. Thus far, 70 health professions training institutions in 14 countries have implemented the program; 547 educators facilitated STRIPE workshops, with a total of 5027 learners trained between September 2019 and September 2020.ConclusionsTo our knowledge this is the first IPE HIV-specific curriculum explicitly focused on enhancing the quality of training provided to graduating health care professionals working in SSA. The collaborative, cross-institutional, interprofessional approach to curriculum development provides a benchmark for how best-practice approaches to education can be disseminated in SSA.

An Integrative Review of Interprofessional Collaboration in Health Care: Building the Case for University Support and Resources and Faculty Engagement.

Background: In 2010, the World Health Organization issued a clarion call for action on interprofessional education and collaboration. This call came forty years after the concept of interprofessional collaboration (IPC) was introduced. Aim: To conduct an integrative review of interprofessional collaboration in health care education in order to evaluate evidence and build the case for university support and resources and faculty engagement, and propose evidence-based implications and recommendations. Search Strategy: A literature search was conducted by an interprofessional faculty from a college of nursing and health sciences. Databases searched included CINAHL, Medline, Eric, Pubmed, Psych Info Lit., and Google Scholar. Keywords were interdisciplinary, interprofessional, multidisciplinary, transdisciplinary, health care team, teamwork, and collaboration. Inclusion criteria were articles that were in the English language, and published between 1995 and 2019. Review Methods: Thirteen interprofessional team members searched assigned databases. Based on key words and inclusion criteria, over 216,885 articles were identified. After removing duplicates, educational studies, available as full text were reviewed based on titles, and abstracts. Thirty-two articles were further evaluated utilizing the Sirriyeh, Lawton, Gardner, and Armitage (2012) review system. Faculty agreed that an inclusion score of 20 or more would determine an article’s inclusion for the final review. Eighteen articles met the inclusion score and the data was reduced and analyzed using the Donabedian Model to determine the structure, processes, and outcomes of IPC in health care education. Results: Structure included national and international institutions of higher education and focused primarily on undergraduate and graduate health care students’ experiences. The IPC processes included curricular, course, and clinical initiatives, and transactional and interpersonal processes. Outcomes were positive changes in faculty and health care students’ knowledge, attitudes, and skills regarding IPC, as well as challenges related to structure, processes, and outcomes which need to be addressed. Implications/Recommendations/Conclusions: The creation of a culture of interprofessional collaboration requires a simultaneous “top–down” and “bottom–up” approach with commitment by the university administration and faculty. A university Interprofessional Strategic Plan is important to guide the vision, mission, goals, and strategies to promote and reward IPC and encourage faculty champions. University support and resources are critical to advance curricular, course, and clinical initiatives. Grassroots efforts of faculty to collaborate with colleagues outside of their own disciplines are acknowledged, encouraged, and established as a normative expectation. Challenges to interprofessional collaboration are openly addressed and solutions proposed through the best thinking of the university administration and faculty. IPC in health care education is the clarion call globally to improve health care.

Self-management support training for undergraduate and graduate entry healthcare professional students: an integrative review

Objectives Current research explores the patient and healthcare professional role in self-management; however, it is unclear what healthcare students are taught about supporting self-management as part of their pre-registration training. As the next generation of healthcare professionals, what and how students are taught is of importance if they are to competently and effectively implement supporting self-management in their future practice. The purpose of this review was to identify the self-management support strategies taught to undergraduate and graduate entry healthcare students. Methods A systematically undertaken integrative review of literature sourced from four health databases. Included studies described the education provided to undergraduate and graduate entry healthcare students about self-management support; studies were critically appraised using Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal tools. Data were extracted and tabulated to i) provide an overall summary of included studies, and ii) identify educational method and type of learning, and strategies taught to students based on Lorig and Holman’s list of core patient self-management skills. Results Twelve of 1,209 studies were included. A variety of methods and approaches to learning were used. Eight taught strategies were identified as informational (six strategies) or emotional (two strategies). Discussion While informational strategies are fundamental, and, as the review highlights, effective for a foundational knowledge in supporting self-management; teaching such informational strategies in isolation could set students up to act as the “expert” in any exchange with patients. More emphasis on teaching of emotional strategies in undergraduate and graduate curricula could more effectively enable students to better support patient self-management into the future.

A Regional Campus Approach to Culinary Medicine for Interprofessional Students

Purpose
 The purpose of this report is to describe and discuss an innovative culinary medicine interprofessional student educational project through collaboration with community partners. 
 
 Method
 After adapting the culinary medicine program to meet interprofessional education requirements, students from interprofessional graduate healthcare programs on a regional medical campus participated in a culinary medicine active learning experience utilizing the Goldring© curriculum. For this project, students completed assigned readings prior to the hands-on culinary experience which utilized a patient case scenario and an educational debrief. Anonymous post-survey quantitative and qualitative data was collected to determine the students’ opinions of the learning experience and the application of the information learned for patient care.
 
 Results
 Thirty-three students from medicine, pharmacy, physical therapy, nursing, radiologic imaging science, and genetic counseling participated. The project consisted of three separate events, entailing the same learning experience. The students reported the learning experience to be highly valuable. Qualitative data analysis revealed three general themes: 1) the novelty of the information learned, 2) the relevance of the information for patients from the perspective of all disciplines represented in the learning experience, and 3) the value of teamwork. 
 
 Conclusions
 Collaboration with a local community culinary arts school provided a unique and innovative learning opportunity for regional campus healthcare students. The focus of the culinary medicine learning experience to include interprofessional students created a rich learning environment allowing students to learn from, with, and about other healthcare disciplines in addition to practical application of culinary medicine. The culinary medicine program’s combination of didactic and culinary skills training was well received by students. Students had a positive response to the curriculum and experience stating that they learned information that they were excited to implement with their patients. To our knowledge UAMS Northwest Regional Campus is the first to implement culinary medicine curriculum with IPE requirements, and it is the first regional medical campus to implement the Goldring© curriculum.

Revisiting the attitudes toward health care teams scale: Developing a short version for graduate health care education

ABSTRACT As interprofessional education (IPE) becomes more common in student training programs, reliable and valid scales are needed to measure students’ perceptions of the experience. The Attitudes Toward Health Care Teams Scale (ATHCTS) was developed to measure students’ attitudes toward IPE programs using 14 items loaded on two factors. In this paper, we used the ATHCTS scale to assess the effects of a three-semester long health care IPE program on three cohorts of nurse practitioner, occupational therapy, and physical therapy graduate students with three measurement points across two university sites (N = 367). Confirmatory factor analysis on the baseline data of the first cohort revealed unacceptable fit indices; in addition, not all items were applicable, some items had double or low factor loadings, and positively and negatively worded items loaded on separate factors, indicating potential answering bias, and both factors were highly correlated. We thus conducted further item analyses and propose a short version of the ATHCTS using six items with one reverse coded item, describing the quality of interprofessional care in a more parsimonious way. The factor structure of the six-item version was tested using confirmatory factor analysis on the baseline data of cohort 2 and 3. Results were compared to the 14-item version, and fit indices confirmed a better fit to the data than the old version. Using the shortened scale, student attitudes were compared over the course of the program and between both sites. Results showed that site 2 students’ attitudes remained very positive over time, while site 1 students’ attitudes declined significantly. We suggest this finding is related to the consistency of team membership at site 2 and discuss the implications for IPE program design.

Parenting While in Training: A Comprehensive Needs Assessment of Residents and Fellows.

BackgroundParenting issues can affect physicians' choice of specialty or subspecialty, as well as their selection of individual training programs, because of the distinctive challenges facing residents and fellows with children. Specific information about how residents perceive these challenges is limited.ObjectiveWe sought to better understand the challenges associated with parenting during residency and fellowship training in order to inform policy and research.MethodsIn 2017, a voluntary online questionnaire was distributed to all 2214 Partners HealthCare graduate medical education trainees across 285 training programs. The survey queried attitudes of and about trainees with children and assessed needs and experiences related to parental leave, lactation, and childcare. Responses were compared between subgroups, including gender, surgical versus nonsurgical specialty, parental status, and whether the respondent was planning to become a parent.ResultsA total of 578 trainees (26%) responded to the questionnaire. Of these, 195 (34%) became parents during training. An additional 298 (52%) planned to become parents during training. Respondents overwhelmingly agreed that their institution should support trainees with children (95%) and that doing so is important for trainee wellness (98%). However, 25% felt that trainees with children burden trainees without children. Childcare access, affordability, and availability for sufficient hours were identified as key challenges, along with issues related to parental leave, lactation facilities, and effect on peers.ConclusionsThis survey highlights trainees' perspectives about parenting during their clinical training, signaling parental leave, lactation facilities, and childcare access and affordability as particular challenges and potential targets for future interventions.

Why shouldn't we do that on placement if we're doing it in the real world? Differences between undergraduate and graduate identities in speech and language therapy.

Healthcare graduates are often characterised as ill-prepared for workplace entry. Historically, research on health professional's work preparedness has focused on the quality of graduates' clinical knowledge, skills and problem-solving. This ignores the role of professional identity formation in determining readiness for clinical practice. Yet, professional identity defines graduate self-perception, how others perceive them and informs clinical behaviour. The scholarship of identity formation at the transition from undergraduate to graduate is characterised by individual (cognitive) rather than relational (sociocultural) perspectives. Yet there is growing recognition that identity formation is not just individually mediated, but is also constructed between individuals and social context. The aim of this study was to explore professional identity formation among undergraduates and graduates from one healthcare profession (speech and language therapy-SLT) using a sociocultural theoretical standpoint. A qualitative descriptive methodology was used. Final (4th) year SLT undergraduate students and graduate SLTs with less than 2years' clinical experience participated in individual semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was used to describe patterns in the data, which were subsequently subjected to interpretation informed by the constructs of Figured Worlds. Data analysis revealed that undergraduate professional identity was characterised by dependency, self-centredness (as opposed to patient-centredness), and a naïve role concept. Graduate identity on the other hand included expectations of self-sufficiency, patient-centredness and a more nuanced perception of the professional role. Undergraduates have naïve, prototypical understandings of what it is to be a graduate practitioner. The nature of undergraduate clinical placement hinders meaningful identity development. This suggests that curriculums should facilitate undergraduates to act with meaningful autonomy and to be positioned in more patient-centred roles, e.g. involvement in the decision-making process for patients. Graduates may then feel more authentic as autonomous professionals in their early graduate posts. This leads to better graduate, patient and service outcomes.

Interprofessional Health Care Escape Room for Advanced Learners.

Interprofessional education is essential to ensure that health care graduates are prepared for collaborative practice. One way to prepare students for interprofessional practice is to expose them to interprofessional activities throughout their educational program. In this article, we present the design and curricular implementation of an interprofessional health care escape room-a type of serious game in which teams of interprofessional participants were provided with a fictitious case. The participants were given 1 hour to work together to solve puzzles and create a postdischarge care plan for the patient. Seven hundred eighty-six students, across four professions, have participated in this experience as part of an academic course. The results were positive: 89.5% of participants found that the activity improved communication and teamwork, and 94.1% felt that team members were listened to. This report demonstrates the value of an interactive interprofessional activity for advanced learners. [J Nurs Educ. 2020;59(1):46-50.].

Promoting Affirmative Transgender Health Care Practice Within Hospitals: An IPE Standardized Patient Simulation for Graduate Health Care Learners.

Transgender patients frequently experience discrimination within health care settings due to provider lack of knowledge and bias resulting in poor service delivery. Team-based interprofessional collaboration is becoming a best practice for health professionals to improve patient-centered care and address these health disparities. A team-based interprofessional education simulation activity was developed as a teaching activity at a university for graduate health care learners in medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, physician assistant, social work, and health care administration programs over 2 years (N = 494). The simulation focused on a transgender patient brought to the emergency department (ED) after a workplace assault. Students were placed in interprofessional teams and asked to critique the initial ED interaction with the patient and then complete a team huddle and discharge planning meeting with a standardized patient. Student preparedness to engage in the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) competencies was assessed through a posttest measure. Student learners reacted overwhelmingly positively to the activities of the workshop. The averaging of 2 years of data yielded students responses of strongly agree and agree at 90% or higher for all IPEC core competencies, as well as for educational objectives of the workshop. Reducing the structural, interpersonal, and individual stigma experienced by transgender patients requires institutions to offer experiential learning opportunities for future health care providers. This interprofessional education simulation experience focusing on transgender patients calls attention to the negative impact of stigma while also promoting competency in interprofessional practice.

THE IMPACT OF AN INTERPROFESSIONAL SIMULATION ON TEAM COMMUNICATION AT THE END OF LIFE

It is increasingly important that healthcare professionals understand how to care for patients at the end of life, especially as 75% of hospital deaths occur in the geriatric population. Many new healthcare profession graduates feel under-prepared to provide end-of-life care. Healthcare education programs must provide education on interprofessional communication and end-of-life care. This study explored the effects of an interprofessional end-of-life simulation on medical, social work, and nursing students’ communication skills. Across three simulation phases, teams were required to communicate with the patient (high-fidelity manikin), family members (scripted actors), and team members about treatment option, change in patient’s condition, and withdrawal of life-sustaining measures. A total of 16 teams participated in the simulation, with each team comprised of nursing students (n=7-8), social work students (n=1), and medical students or residents (n=1). Team communication skills were assessed using the Gap Kalamazoo Communication Skills Assessment Form. The average communication score for teams reflected fair to good communication (M=28.81, SD=5.55). The best communication domains were “Shares information” (n=8), “Communicates accurate information” (n=6), and “Builds a relationship” (n=5). The worst domains were “Demonstrates empathy” (n=7), “Provides closure” (n=6), and “Builds a relationship” (n=5). This simulation provides an interactive educational mechanism by which to educate interprofessional healthcare students on communication and care of patients at the end of life.

Triple Aims Healthcare Policy Voices of Graduate Student Interprofessional Team Members

The purpose of this study is to share the voices of healthcare graduate students participating in an interprofessional course experience, particularly as their voice relate to fundamental healthcare issues care embodied in the Triple Aims. Two research questions guided study efforts: (1) how do graduate students perceive the value of interprofessional learning experiences for their professional development as future healthcare providers? and (2) based on these experiences, how do students perceive the potential for interprofessional teams to address the Triple Aims of health care? This study was based on the qualitative approach of inductive thematic coding (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Findings indicated that course experiences led to favorable perspectives towards interprofessional practice, with students citing particular benefits regarding more effective and efficient patient service. Students also perceived that interprofessional healthcare would advance current practice regarding the first two triple aims (patient healthcare outcomes and patient satisfaction) due its focus on patient-centered care, improved provider communication, and better-informed treatment decisions. Regarding the third triple aim (reduced costs), students noted that healthcare cost savings were possible, but these must be viewed with a macro lens from a long-term perspective.

Measuring health care students' attitudes toward interprofessional learning, perceptions of effectiveness as an interprofessional team member, and competence in managing adult cardiac arrest

Background and purposeInterprofessional education can be used to prepare healthcare graduates for teamwork. Simulations, when used with interprofessional education, create realistic clinical situations that promote teamwork. Faculty assessed changes in pharmacy and nursing students' competence in treating adult cardiac arrest and perceived readiness for interprofessional learning and teamwork. Educational activity and settingEighty-three pharmacy students and 57 nursing students participated in a high fidelity simulation focused on adult cardiac arrest as an expectation of their respective courses. This study took place at a single campus College of Health Professions located at a public land grant institution. FindingsThe Readiness for Health Care Students for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) and Team Skills Scale (TSS) were used to develop a survey administered prepost simulation. A paired t-test indicated statistically significant increases of mean values prepost (p < 0.001) for: teamwork and collaboration, professional identity, team skills, and competence. An independent sample t-test found no differences by gender or degree. DiscussionThis research supports using simulation in interprofessional education to increase competence and promote changes in attitudes toward interprofessional learning and teamwork. SummaryAn interprofessional simulation increased student's perceived competence and positively increased perceptions of learning and working with other health profession students.

A 5-Week Seminar on the Biopsychosocial-Spiritual Model of Self-Care Improves Anxiety, Self-Compassion, Mindfulness, Depression, and Stress in Graduate Healthcare Students.

Graduate healthcare students can experience stress that affects their ability to perform academically and clinically, decreases empathy, and affects their well-being and clinical competence. The purpose of the current study was to determine the effects of a seminar on a yoga-inspired biopsychosocial-spiritual model of self-care on perceived levels of anxiety, self-compassion, mindfulness, depression, and stress in graduate healthcare students. We used a within-group repeated-measure design with baseline followed by intervention. The intervention was a 5-week seminar with 60-minute sessions that incorporated breathing, mindful movement, meditation, and education for self-care in five areas of a biopsychosocial-spiritual model (spiritual, physical, intellectual, energetic, and psychoemotional-social). The following outcomes measures assessed perceived changes in anxiety, self-compassion, mindfulness, depression, and stress: Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form (SCS-SF), Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI), Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills (KIMS), Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). The Freidman test with Dunn's test post hoc pairwise comparisons was used for the BAI, SCS-SF, FMI, KIMS, and MAAS. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used for BDI and PSS. Twenty doctor of physical therapy students and one doctor of dental medicine student participated in the study. Significant improvements (all p < 0.05) were found for self-compassion, mindfulness, anxiety, depression, and stress. A 5-week seminar using a biopsychosocial-spiritual approach for self-care improved self-compassion and mindfulness and diminished anxiety, depression, and stress. Implementing programs that facilitate self-awareness and self-care may provide important benefits to future healthcare providers.