Interprofessional Education Opportunities Research Articles

Mapping the interprofessional education landscape for students on rural clinical placements: an integrative literature review.

Interprofessional collaboration and effective teamwork are core to optimising rural health outcomes; however, little is known about the opportunities available for interprofessional education (IPE) in rural clinical learning environments. This integrative literature review addresses this deficit by identifying, analysing and synthesising the research available about the nature of and potential for IPE provided to undergraduate students undertaking rural placements, the settings and disciplines involved and the outcomes achieved. An integrative review method was adopted to capture the breadth of evidence available about IPE in the rural context. This integrative review is based on a search of nine electronic databases: CINAHL, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, MEDLINE, ProQuest, PubMed, SCOPUS, Web of Science and Google Scholar. Search terms were adapted to suit those used by different disciplines and each database and included key words related to IPE, rurality, undergraduate students and clinical placement. The inclusion criteria included primary research and reports of IPE in rural settings, peer reviewed, and published in English between 2000 and mid-2016. This review integrates the results of 27 primary research studies undertaken in seven countries: Australia, Canada, USA, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa and Tanzania. Despite geographical, cultural and health system differences, all of the studies reviewed were concerned with developing collaborative, interprofessional practice-ready graduates and adopted a similar mix of research methods. Overall, the 27 studies involved more than 3800 students (range 3-1360) from 36 disciplinary areas, including some not commonly associated with interprofessional education, such as theology. Interprofessional education was provided in a combination of university and rural placement settings including hospitals, community health services and other rural venues. The education activities most frequently utilised were seminars, tutorial discussion groups (n=21, 84%), case presentations (n=11, 44%) and community projects (n=11, 44%) augmented by preliminary orientation and ongoing interaction with clinicians during placement. The studies reviewed demonstrate that rural clinical learning environments provide rich and varied IPE opportunities for students that increase their interprofessional understanding, professional respect for other roles, and awareness of the collaborative and interprofessional nature of rural practice. This review addresses the lack of attention given to understanding IPE in the rural context, provides Australian and international evidence that initiatives are being offered to diverse student groups undertaking placements in rural settings and proposes a research agenda to develop a relevant framework to support rural IPE. Rural clinical learning environments afford a rich resource whereby health professionals can conceptualise IPE creatively and holistically to construct transformative learning experiences for students. This review develops a case for supporting the development, trialling, evaluation and translation of IPE initiatives that harness the opportunities afforded by rural placements. Further research is required to examine the ways to optimise IPE opportunities in the rural clinical context, including the potential for simulation-based activities, the challenges to achieving sustainable programs, and to evaluate the impact of interprofessional education on collaboration and health outcomes.

Experiential interprofessional education for medical students at a regional medical campus

Regional medical campuses are often challenged with providing effective interprofessional education (IPE) opportunities for medical students that are comparable to those at main campuses. At distributed teaching sites, there is often less IPE infrastructure and fewer learners of other health professions. On the other hand, distributed medical education (DME) settings often have community-based clinical environments and fewer medical students, which can provide unique opportunities for IPE curriculum innovation. At the Niagara Regional Campus (NRC) of McMaster University, the Horizontal Elective for Interprofessional Growth & Healthcare Team ENhancement (HEIGHTEN) was developed to provide first-year medical students the opportunity to learn from and work alongside nurses in a community hospital. This study assesses HEIGHTEN's impact on students' knowledge, confidence, and attitudes towards interprofessional care, as well as student satisfaction with the learning experience using a mixed methods evaluation. Findings suggest that HEIGHTEN provided an enjoyable learning experience, fostered positive interprofessional attitudes and an appreciation for the nursing role. Voluntary participation by medical students was high and increased both within the regional campus and with students from other campuses travelling to participate. This model for IPE can be feasibly replicated by distributed teaching sites to provide medical students with hands-on, experiential learning early in training, leading to positive attitudes and behaviours supporting interprofessional collaboration (IPC).

The development of an instrument to evaluate interprofessional student team competency

ABSTRACTHealthcare institutions, accreditation agencies for higher learning, and organizations such as the National Academy of Medicine in the United States, support interprofessional education (IPE) opportunities. However, incorporating IPE opportunities into academic settings remains difficult. One challenge is assessing IPE learning and practice outcomes, especially at the level of student performance to ensure graduates are “collaboration-ready”. The Creighton-Interprofessional Collaborative Evaluation (C-ICE) instrument was developed to address the need for a measurement tool for interprofessional student team performance. Four interprofessional competency domains provide the framework for the C-ICE instrument. Twenty-six items were identified as essential to include in the C-ICE instrument. This instrument was found to be both a reliable and a valid instrument to measure interprofessional interactions of student teams. Inter-rater reliability as measured by Krippendorff’s nominal alpha (nKALPHA) ranged from .558 to .887; with four of the five independent assessments achieving nKALPHA greater than or equal to 0.796. The findings indicated that the instrument is understandable (Gwet’s alpha coefficient (gAC) 0.63), comprehensive (gAC = 0.62), useful and applicable (gAC = 0.54) in a variety of educational settings. The C-ICE instrument provides educators a comprehensive evaluation tool for assessing student team behaviors, skills, and performance.

Interprofessional Primary Care Course Curriculum and Evaluation.

Primary care (PC) requires interprofessional teamwork and training. Although clinical training in PC settings is well developed in some professions, classroom teaching on the principles and practice of PC provides additional opportunities for interprofessional education. We offered an elective one-credit classroom course on PC over 3 years, 2013 through 2015, enrolling students from dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, physician assistant, public health, social work, and other fields. Course activities included classroom presentations, small group discussions, team exercises, written reflections, online discussion, and observation visits to PC practices. We conducted an anonymous postcourse evaluation using 5-point Likert-like scales and brief student comments. Eighty-four students completed the course over 3 years and 86% (72) completed the evaluation. Students rated the course high value or very high value, particularly for interprofessional student mix (99%, 71) and practice visit (99%, 70/71). Most students (98% , 65/66), felt the course should be offered again, and 82% (54/66) thought it should be expanded. Most students (93%, 65/70), recommended the course for others, and 41.1% (29/70) felt it should be required for students in their field or for all health professions students. After completing the course, 83.3% (60/72) of students planned careers in PC settings, and 55.6% (40/72) reported they changed plans to such careers. The PC course served students across health professions, earned high ratings, and influenced PC career plans. Most students felt the course should be recommended or required for all health professions students.

The IPE performance report: A tool for preceptor development

IntroductionIn order to promote interprofessional education (IPE) within the advanced experiential curriculum, the Office of Experiential Affairs (OEA) at Western New England University (WNE) created a process by which information regarding IPE at the practice sites is collected, verified, quantified, and used for preceptor development. MethodsAn interprofessional education preceptor survey (IPEPS), consisting of 43 standardized questions designed to assess IPE opportunities available at practice sites, was administered to 55 preceptors in spring 2016 using QualtricsTM. Throughout the 2016–2017 academic year, students were required to document two interprofessional interactions that occurred during each of their four required APPE rotations. Results from the IPEPS were used to determine a perceived level of IPE occurring at each site and compared to student field encounter logs, then used to inform preceptor development through a customized IPE Performance Report. Results and DiscussionResponse rates for both the IPEPS and student field encounter logs were 100%. Data relating to preceptors’ perception of IPE opportunities afforded by their sites were collected and compared to data logged by students regarding IPE encounters at the sites. The data were compiled through a customized IPE Performance Report and communicated to preceptors as a form of professional development around IPE.

Educação em saúde: agentes comunitários de saúde e estudantes de medicina no controle da dengue

A Estratégia Saúde da Família, uma das mais bem sucedidas iniciativas para reorganização da Atenção Básica no Brasil, traz como diferencial o Agente Comunitário de Saúde (ACS), trabalhador da saúde que atua como interlocutor, facilitando o acesso da comunidade a ações promotoras de saúde. No entanto, é pouco conhecido o processo de orientação e formação destes trabalhadores para tratar de epidemias, como a dengue. Neste contexto, salienta-se a importância da aproximação entre estudantes de Medicina e ACS para que haja o fortalecimento não só da educação permanente destes trabalhadores, mas também da formação acadêmica dos futuros médicos. O método adotado foi o grupo focal com seis agentes de uma Unidade Básica de Saúde (UBS) no município de Jataí, Goiás, Brasil. O grupo focal foi conduzido por estudantes do curso de Medicina da Universidade Federal de Goiás, tendo como instrumento roteiro condutor elaborado por professores e estudantes. Este roteiro foi construído com enfoque em Educação em Saúde, para garantir a possibilidade de elaboração de futuras estratégias de ação pelos estudantes, contribuindo para a formação transdisciplinar dos alunos. Em seguida, foi feita a Análise de Conteúdo para análise e interpretação dos dados. Os estudantes observaram que os agentes acreditam que as estratégias comunicacionais adotadas são efetivas e acessíveis. Entretanto, constataram que há falhas comunicacionais a serem sanadas, pois a comunidade continua relutante em por em prática seus conhecimentos, encontrando assim um desafio a ser trabalhado com os agentes comunitários ao longo de sua formação acadêmica, em busca de novas estratégias de ação para o combate da doença. Os alunos já começaram a elaborar suas estratégias de ação, com base em conhecimentos construídos sobre comunicação e saúde coletiva. Acredita-se que este trabalho é de grande importância para desenvolver habilidades comunicacionais nos estudantes e para fortalecer seu compromisso com a responsividade social.

Scottish healthcare student's perceptions of an interprofessional ward simulation: An exploratory, descriptive study.

The most memorable learning occurs during placement. Simulated interprofessional learning is a logical learning opportunity to help healthcare professionals work beyond their professional silos. In this qualitative study, we investigated the perceived learning of students from six health professions (adult nursing, diagnostic radiography, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, dietetics, and pharmacy) from their participation in a 45 min interprofessional ward simulation. Semistructured focus groups were undertaken, and data were analyzed using framework analysis. Two overarching themes were evident, each of which had subthemes: (i) the ward simulation as an interprofessional education opportunity (subthemes: reality of situations and interactions); and (ii) the perceived learning achieved (subthemes: professional roles, priorities, respect, communication, teamwork, and quality of care). The results indicated that a short interprofessional ward simulation, unsupported by additional learning opportunities or directed study, is a useful and engaging interprofessional learning opportunity. Students appear to have learnt important key messages central to the interprofessional education curricula to help develop practitioners who can effectively work together as an interprofessional team, and that this learning is partly due to simulation allowing things to go wrong.

One Team-Patient, Family, and Health Care Providers: An Interprofessional Education Activity Providing Collaborative and Palliative Care.

AbstractThe article explains an approach to building interprofessional education (IPE) and interprofessional practice opportunities as well as content in palliative/hospice care within undergraduate and graduate curricula for six health disciplines, including speech-language pathology. Graduate students from nursing, medicine, communication sciences, and disorders, physical therapy, social work and nutrition, as well as undergraduate nursing students participated in one of four IPE training sessions using six videotaped simulation scenes portraying the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Learning objectives included (1) engaging in effective interprofessional communication and teamwork, (2) discussing therapeutic patient/family communication, (3) employing supportive holistic care with patients and families at end of life, and (4) relating the patient's physiological assessment findings to the dying process. Students discussed the role of the interprofessional team in end-of-life care and were coached on ways to apply interprofessional communication, a key interprofessional education competency, using patient- and family-centered care principles. Results revealed strong positive agreement among the disciplines regarding the value of the learning opportunities provided during this IPE simulation activity.

Use of Recommended Communication Techniques by Diabetes Educators.

Background:Diabetes educators are challenged to teach diabetes self-management to patients, ensuring comprehension. Effectiveness with patients may be dependent on the communication skills of the diabetes educator.Objective:This study sought to determine diabetes educators' use of and perceived effectiveness of recommended communication techniques with patients to teach diabetes self-management and to determine differences in communication by educator characteristics.Methods:In this cross-sectional study, a convenience sample of 522 diabetes educators, comprised mostly of nurses, dieticians, and pharmacists, completed the American Medical Association (AMA) Communication Techniques Survey at a national conference. The AMA survey assessed diabetes educators' self-reported use of and perceived effectiveness of 14 communication techniques. Internal consistency for items reporting frequency of communication techniques was α = 0.83 and for items reporting perceived effectiveness was α = 0.87.Key Results:Simple language, written patient education materials, and using Teach-Back were the most frequently reported techniques. Follow-up phone calls and drawing pictures were the least reported. Educators of Hispanic ethnicity used significantly more communication techniques than Caucasian respondents (p < .05). Educators with more than 16 years in practice and those who provided more than 16 hours of diabetes education per week used significantly more techniques than those with less experience (p < .01). Nurses used significantly more techniques than dieticians (p < .01) and those who had health literacy or communication as part of their schooling used more techniques than those who did not (p < .05). No significant difference on the routine use of communication techniques was found by education level or diabetes educator certification status.Conclusions:The findings provide a baseline assessment of diabetes educator communication practice. Inclusion of health literacy and communication in health professional school curricula appears to support competency, suggesting opportunities for inter-professional health literacy and communication education and research. [Health Literacy Research and Practice. 2017;1(4):e145–e152.]Plain Language Summary:We did a survey asking diabetes educators how they communicate with their patients with diabetes. They mostly used simple language, gave out pamphlets, and used Teach-Back. They did not draw pictures to help explain things. Diabetes educators who were Hispanic, nurses, and had health literacy training in school used more communication techniques. Health literacy and communication should be included in training of health providers.

Healthcare professionals' sources of knowledge of complementary medicine in an academic center.

BackgroundComplementary medicine (CM) is utilized in a growing number of academic centers despite the debate concerning its value, risks and benefits. Healthcare professionals often feel uncomfortable discussing CM with patients, and little is known about their sources of knowledge in the field of CM.ObjectiveTo assess healthcare professionals’ sources of knowledge and attitude toward CM in an academic hospital.Design and participantsThe cross-sectional web-based survey took place from October to December 2013. A total of 4,925 healthcare professionals working at Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland, were invited to answer the questionnaire.Main measuresFactors influencing healthcare professionals’ opinion toward CM, knowledge and communication about CM.Key resultsThe questionnaire was answered by 1,247 healthcare professionals. The three key factors influencing professionals’ opinion toward CM were personal experience, clinical experience and evidence demonstrating the physiological mechanism of CM. Personal experience was more associated with nurses’ and midwives’ opinion compared to physicians’ (80.8% vs 57.1%, OR = 3.08, [95% CI: 2.35–4.05], P<0.001 and 85.3% vs 57.1%, OR = 3.83, [95% CI: 1.95–7.53], P<0.001, respectively) as well as with professionals trained in CM compared to non-trained professionals (86.0% vs 73.2%, OR = 2.60, [95% CI: 1.92–3.53], P<0.001). Physicians relied more on randomized controlled clinical trials compared to nurses (81.3% vs 62.9%, OR = 0.43, [95% CI: 0.33–0.57], P<0.001). A majority of the respondents (82.5%) agreed that they lacked knowledge about CM and 65.0% noted that it was the patient who initially started the discussion about CM.ConclusionsDifferent professionals used different strategies to forge opinions regarding CM: physicians relied more on scientific evidence, while nurses and midwives were more influenced by personal experience. Regardless of preferred information source, most respondents did not feel prepared to address patient questions regarding CM. Enhancing interprofessional education opportunities is an important strategy to help providers become empowered to discuss CM with patients. This in turn will help patients making informed decisions in their healthcare.

Teaching and learning activities to educate nursing students for interprofessional collaboration: A scoping review

ABSTRACTTo prepare new graduates with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to engage in effective interprofessional collaboration (IPC) in practice, healthcare professional programmes need to ensure their curriculum provides opportunities for interprofessional education (IPE) and IPC. To strengthen IPE within an undergraduate curriculum and meet the professional requirements set out by regulatory bodies to prepare new graduate nurses to achieve IPC competencies, a curriculum initiative was developed to expand IPE across the four years of the Baccalaureate of Science in Nursing (BSN) programme. The purpose of this scoping review was to identify published teaching-learning activities in undergraduate nursing programmes to inform the development and integration of IPE curricula. The literature included was identified by searching the following electronic databases: EMBASE and EBSCO (CINAHL, Medline, Education Research Complete, ERIC). The search was limited to articles with abstracts published between 2008 and 2016 in the English language. All ten studies that met inclusion criteria reported students’ perceived interprofessional education as valuable in facilitating their achievement of IPC competencies. Interprofessional education is an approach for preparing nursing students with knowledge, skills, and attitudes to achieve IPC competencies and therefore, urgently needs to become more prevalent in nursing curricula. Educators can use a variety of IPE teaching-learning activities to support students’ achievement of IPC competencies in order to prepare new practitioners to engage in effective IPC in a variety of healthcare milieus. Nurse educators are encouraged to intentionally integrate learning opportunities into current and future undergraduate nursing education to prepare collaborative ready graduate nurses.

The Role of Oral Health Care Professionals in Providing Medical Services.

Integration of oral health care professionals (OHCPs) into medical care could advance efforts to control increasingly prevalent conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, human immunodeficiency virus infection, and hepatitis C infection, each of which is associated with significant morbidity and health care costs. Prevention and early intervention are effective for reducing the incidence and severity of these diseases, while increasing cost of health care may drive the need for nontraditional models of health education and delivery. Studies have suggested that a dental office is a suitable setting for the purpose of screening and referrals for these conditions and may result in medical expenditure savings. Such innovations would challenge the current dental educational model and the education and training of faculty. Implementing this change would require recognizing opportunities and challenges for the profession and the need for new competencies in dental curricula. Challenges and opportunities are described, including reimbursement models and integration of OHCPs into emerging health care delivery models. Ideas for curricular change are presented, including the need for added emphasis on biological sciences and the introduction of new courses to address systems thinking and forces driving preventive behavior. To embrace the evolving health care arena and be a part of the future interprofessional health care delivery dynamic, dental curricula should also include substantive interprofessional education opportunities. Such opportunities would provide the basic skills and training to recognize and appreciate patients' oral health issues in the broader context of their overall health and well-being. This article was written as part of the project "Advancing Dental Education in the 21st Century."

Veterinary Pharmaceutics: An Opportunity for Interprofessional Education in New Zealand?

Globally pharmacists are becoming increasingly involved in veterinary medicine; however, little is known about the level of interest for pharmacists playing a larger role in animal treatment in New Zealand. A key stakeholder in any progression of pharmacists becoming more involved in the practice of veterinary pharmacy is the veterinary profession. The aim of this study was to investigate views of veterinarians and veterinary students on the role of pharmacists supporting veterinarians with advice on animal medicines. Open interviews were conducted with veterinarians in Dunedin, New Zealand. Veterinary students at Massey University completed an online survey. Most veterinarians do not have regular communication with pharmacists regarding animal care, but believe it may be beneficial. In order to support veterinarians, pharmacists would need further education in veterinary medicine. Veterinary students believe there is opportunity for collaboration between professions provided that pharmacists have a better working knowledge of animal treatment. Most of the veterinary students surveyed perceive a gap in their knowledge concerning animal medicines, specifically pharmacology and compounding. While there is support for pharmacists contributing to veterinary medicine, particularly in the area of pharmaceutics, this is currently limited in New Zealand due to a lack of specialized education opportunities.

Pre-registration interprofessional clinical education in the workplace: a realist review.

The inclusion of interprofessional education opportunities in clinical placements for pre-registration learners has recently been proposed as a strategy to enhance graduates' skills in collaborative practice. A realist review was undertaken to ascertain the contexts, mechanisms and outcomes of formal interprofessional clinical workplace learning. Initial scoping was carried out, after which Ovid MEDLINE, CINAHL and EMBASE were searched from 2005 to April 2016 to identify formal interprofessional workplace educational interventions involving pre-registration learners. Papers reporting studies conducted in dedicated training wards were excluded, leaving a total of 30 papers to be included in the review. Several educational formats that combined students from medicine, nursing, pharmacy and allied health professions were identified. These included: the use of engagement by student teams with a real patient through interview as the basis for discussion and reflection; the use of case studies through which student teams work to promote discussion; structured workshops; ward rounds, and shadowing. Meaningful interprofessional student discussion and reflection comprised the mechanism by which the outcome of learners acquiring knowledge of the roles of other professions and teamwork skills was achieved. The mechanism of dialogue during an interaction with a real patient allowed the patient to provide his or her perspective and contributed to an awareness of the patient's perspective in health care practice. Medication- or safety-focused interprofessional tasks contributed to improved safety awareness. In the absence of trained facilitators or in the context of negative role-modelling, programmes were less successful. In the design of workplace education initiatives, curriculum decisions should take into consideration the contexts of the initiatives and the mechanisms for achieving the education-related outcomes of interest.

Empowering the Physiotherapy Profession in Ethiopia through Leadership Development within the Doctoring Process.

Ethiopia recently introduced the Doctor of Physiotherapy (DPT) degree at Addis Ababa University as a mechanism to increase the work force capacity of primary care providers in the health sector. The DPT program was supported by an international academic partnership and was designed to empower physiotherapists as leaders to move the profession forward. The curriculum was framed by core pedagogical principles and strategies and was phased into two programs. First, the 4-year Advanced Standing DPT program focused on developing registered Ethiopian physiotherapists with Bachelor of Science degrees as academic faculty. Second, these new faculty would then sustain a 6-year Generic DPT program that would matriculate students upon graduation from high school. The curriculum represented depth and breadth of foundation and clinical sciences, evidence-based practice, clinical reasoning skills, and interprofessional education opportunities. A leadership thread provided opportunities to develop skills necessary to effectively navigate and manage the challenges faced by the profession. The main outcomes included (1) an 8-year international partnership, (2) the academic performance of students, and (3) and leadership capabilities as demonstrated through activities and assignments. While the program has been criticized as an unnecessary extravagance for Ethiopia, the advantages of the DPT degree were revealed in a direct comparison to other academic physiotherapy programs in Ethiopia. In the end, because the DPT is new to the country, it will take time to fully understand the true impact within the Ethiopian health system.

Working Together: Evaluating Interprofessional Experiences on a Pediatric Clerkship

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. Background:Medical schools offer interprofessional education (IPE) opportunities during preclinical years; however, the literature holds fewer descriptions of projects designed to promote IPE for medical students in clinical settings. Our project seeks to evaluate if students on a 6-week pediatric clerkship can establish working relationships with other health care providers (HCP). Methods: We instructed 167 pediatric clerkship students to interact with two different non-physician HCPs and then to ask the providers to complete comments-only evaluations of the student's professionalism. Encounters were to occur as part of normal patient care interactions. A dataset was created to record time-of-year, setting (wards, nursery, emergency department, clinic/offices), evaluator's profession and status (trainee or staff/faculty), and student's career interests. Descriptive statistics were generated for this cross-sectional study. Results: 304 evaluations were submitted, demonstrating a 91% completion rate at an average of 1.8 evaluations per student (range 1-2). Pharmacists completed the most evaluations (46%, n= 140), which were all completed on general wards where pharmacists are well-integrated into clinical teams on which students rotate. Nurses completed the next highest amount (29%, n=87). Conclusion: Clerkship students are able to establish working relationships with other HCPs in clinical settings. However, clerkship directors may have to guide students to reach out more broadly to providers outside structured teams.

Respiratory Therapy Faculty Knowledge of and Attitudes Toward Interprofessional Education

Interprofessional education (IPE) improves collaboration and patient care through joint education between health professions. Respiratory therapy (RT) faculty were surveyed to evaluate their knowledge and attitudes toward IPE. We report current opportunities for IPE from faculty and compare responses from associate's, bachelor's, and master's degree programs and profit versus nonprofit institutions. We developed an online survey based on IPE literature and questions modified for the RT discipline. The survey was distributed by email to 874 faculty from the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care accredited programs. The response rate was 33%. Faculty identified IPE as an important component of RT education (n = 207, 80%) but reported challenges in integrating IPE into current curriculum. Overall, communication was ranked as the most important IPE competency (n = 104, 39%) and ethics least important (n = 131, 49%). When asked how many credit hours are required to teach IPE, 48% of respondents reported that they were unsure of an appropriate time requirement. Significant differences between associate's and bachelor's/master's degree program faculty were found on the following topics: institutional resources needed for IPE (P < .001), faculty availability (P < .001), curriculum availability for IPE (P = .02), and importance of including IPE at academic health center campuses (P < .001). IPE is recognized as an important component of RT education by all faculty respondents. However, significant differences in knowledge and attitudes toward IPE exist between faculty in associate's versus bachelor's/master's degree programs. Revisiting the current accreditation standards program may allow IPE to take a more prominent role in RT curricula.

The Optimal Time to Institute Interprofessional Education in the Medical School Curriculum

Modern healthcare occurs in a dynamic and complex environment that requires providers to work together, collaborate, and quickly adapt to the continuously changing work environment. To prepare providers to meet these demands, practical healthcare and academia establish interprofessional education (IPE) opportunities for healthcare professions. Educational psychologists and philosophers who propone constructivism as a theory of learning argue that “each of us perceives the world through the prism of our own unique experience” (Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, John Dewey, Jerome Bruner, and John Locke) that determines how ready we are to accept or reject given concepts or constructs. This makes the appropriate timing to institute IPE in healthcare curricula very important. No current literature in the realm of IPE collaboration has determined an ideal time to introduce IPE into health education (Curran et al. in J Interprof Care 24:41–52, 4). In our project, we have assessed where in the curriculum medical students had the most positive attitude toward IPE and, more importantly, when they were ready to learn from other healthcare professions, and when they were ready to teach the other professions. In addition, we examined potential confounding factors such as behavioral traits, medical specialty of preference, prior academic degree or working experience in another healthcare profession, amount of clinical experience, and previous IPE exposure. Since none of the existing instruments were suitable to achieve this goal, we developed a 27-item Academic Interprofessional Education Attitude Scale (AIPEAS) survey instrument. This instrument has been piloted and validated at the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine (USD SSOM). At the time of the survey administration, there were 71 first-year, 61 second-year, 58 third-year, and 65 fourth-year students enrolled at USD SSOM. To enhance the response rate, the survey was administered in the last 2 weeks of November and first 2 weeks of December when students did not have major exams or clinical evaluations. One hundred thirty-five out of 254 students replied (135/254, 53.14% response rate), and their profiles closely represented the entire medical school student body. This study found that medical students younger than 25 years, who were females and were in the first or second year of medical school, had significantly more positive attitudes toward IPE. This discovery supported prior research findings conducted by other investigators (Pollard et al. Health Soc Care Community 12(4):346–58, 2004; Anderson and Thorpe J Interprof Care 22(3):263–82, 2008). Among all medical specialties, primary care and family medicine in particular, along with the group of undecided specialty, demonstrated the highest mean attitude toward IPE scores. These findings agree with the previous studies that showed correlation between medical specialties and personality traits (Borges and Osmon J Vocat Behav 58:22–35, 5). The University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine conducted a survey-based study to determine the best timing to institute interprofessional education in medical school curriculum. According to the obtained data, the majority of students responded that the first year of the medical school curriculum was the best time to initiate IPE. While the entire attitude toward IPE was positive, female students were more enthusiastic about it than their male counterparts. Also, students younger than 25 years had more positive attitudes toward IPE than their elder schoolmates. Since many healthcare accreditation agencies require students to be involved in the IPE activities throughout their educational curricula, this survey and its findings could be an important tool in designing such curricula (Dominguez et al. J Interprof Care 29:1–6, 2014).

Dental Hygiene, Dental, and Medical Students’ OMFS/Hospital Dentistry‐Related Knowledge/Skills, Attitudes, and Behavior: An Exploration

Engaging other health care providers in oral health-related activities and interprofessional care (IPC) could increase access to oral health care for underserved populations in the U.S. The aims of this study were to assess dental hygiene, dental, and medical students' intra- and interprofessional and oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS)/hospital dentistry-related knowledge/skills, attitudes, and behavior; determine whether first and second year vs. third and fourth year cohorts' responses differed; and explore how intra- and interprofessional knowledge was related to interprofessional education (IPE) and interprofessional attitudes and behavior. Data were collected between April 2014 and May 2015 from 69 dental hygiene, 316 dental, and 187 medical students. Response rates across classes for the dental hygiene students ranged from 85% to 100%; 24% to 100% for the dental students; and 13% to 35% for the medical students. The results showed that the medical students had lower oral health-related and interprofessional knowledge and less positive attitudes about oral health-related behavior, IPE, and interprofessional teamwork than the dental hygiene and dental students. While third- and fourth-year medical students' interprofessional knowledge/skills and behavior were higher than those of first- and second-year students, the two groups' IPE-related and interprofessional attitudes did not differ. The students' knowledge correlated with their IPE and interprofessional communication-related skills and behavior, but not with their interprofessional attitudes. These dental hygiene, dental, and medical students' OMFS/hospital dentistry-related knowledge/skills and behavior increased over the course of their academic programs, while their IPE-related and intra- and interprofessional attitudes, especially for medical students, did not improve over time. OMFS and hospital dentistry units in medical centers offer distinctive opportunities for IPE and IPC. Utilizing these units may be one way to ensure that graduating providers are motivated to engage in IPC in their practice, thus contributing to reducing oral health disparities and increasing access to oral care for underserved populations.

Interprofessional Education in Palliative Care: A Report from the Trenches (TH364)

•Describe three strategies for overcoming common challenges when developing interprofessional educational opportunities in palliative care.•Develop an evaluation plan for IPE.•List educational strategies and resources available for IPE. The recent IOM reports, Dying in America and Measuring the Impact of Interprofessional Education on Collaborative Practice and Patient Outcomes, challenge educational institutions to prepare clinicians who are competent in communication and collaboration across disciplines, particularly in palliative care. Such training mandates interprofessional education (IPE) experiences, yet many efforts are thwarted by the multiple obstacles and lack of resources for developing and implementing IPE. It is unusual for university-based palliative care IPE curriculum to be developed from the ground up by multiple disciplines with equal representation. In this session, faculty from three universities with successful IPE programs will share lessons learned as they (1) successfully developed and integrated interprofessional curriculum and activities into their programs; (2) built curriculum with equal interdisciplinary representation; (3) aligned the curriculum with the core competencies established by the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (values & ethics, roles & responsibilities, communication, and teamwork and team-based care) and (4) leveled and involved learners from different disciplines and academic levels. This session will address both opportunities and challenges that were encountered, including: assessing institutional readiness, early planning for IPE, creating and maintaining an interprofessional faculty team, educational strategies and resources for curricular development, logistical solutions, recruitment of appropriate learners from palliative care disciplines, and evaluation methods and tools. Attendees will be linked to online resources and organizations which provide materials and support IPE initiatives. Presenters will share examples of successful efforts through lecture, video and experiential activities.