July 2023: From Questions to Action

From Questions to Action

Thank you to the more than 70 academic and health system colleagues who joined us in April to hear what keeps the National Center leaders, Christine Arenson and Barbara Brandt, up at night about IPE and share their own sources of IPE insomnia. As we had hoped, ideas were flying during the webinar in the on-screen conversations and Zoom chat. Our panelists and participants asked how we could do IPE differently to advance the field and importantly, to preserve energy, sleep, and sanity. We wanted to share the highlights of the conversations, the questions asked, and plans that are evolving for the second Nexus Distinguished Scholars webinar – one that we promised would move “From Questions to Action.”

Prompted by Christine and Barbara’s reflections on their experience and deep study of IPE, participants in the webinar generated a series of exciting “what if” questions that challenged mainstream assumptions about effective IPE offerings. They asked, “What if we stopped trying to do everything?” and “What if we expanded the dialogue to voices we haven’t heard like insurers, engineers, or social scientists?” and “What if we focused on one or two of the Quadruple Aim goals to demonstrate IPE impact instead of all four?” We noticed that each time someone wrote a new “what if” in Zoom chat, it was followed by multiple thumbs up and heart emojis.

To us, the enthusiasm (and possibly relief) associated with the generation of new questions might also be interpreted as evidence in our IP community of the deep commitment to continuous learning and improvement. In our view, the act of asking “what if” questions simultaneously acknowledges that it is possible to celebrate the huge accomplishments we have made in IPE over the past decade and recognize that much more work needs to be done to establish a firm foundation for sustainability. As we’ve heard – and probably said ourselves – IPE is not for the faint of heart. If the number of thumbs ups and hearts we saw were any indication, a good number of people are ready and willing to ask new questions and move into a new phase of IPE.

We’ve thought a great deal about a good way to explore the “what if” questions and use them to take us into meaningful changes and action. We know that turning the IPE ship will take time and concerted effort. We also know that most in the IP community do the work from a place of passion and commitment and not a lot of resources. So – we’re thinking we need to synergize with and build on the important innovations going on that help all of us imagine what IPE could look like and accomplish if we used different lenses and allowed ourselves and each other to ask new or different questions.

The two of us recently participated in a workshop on artificial intelligence (AI) in health care to help us prepare for a Nexus Distinguished Scholar’s presentation on AI and teamwork for this year’s Nexus Summit (more to come on this)! During the workshop, hosted by the Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professions Education of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, students, faculty and clinicians provided concrete examples of what they’re doing to learn about AI and stay in front of what is turning out to be a tsunami of information about AI and its challenges. We found this approach tremendously helpful in shifting gears from abstract thinking to “ok, what does this mean?” “what can I be doing?”

From Questions to Action Webinar

Friday, August 4, 11 am – 12 pm Central

In the second Nexus Distinguished Scholars webinar, “From Questions to Action,” Nexus Distinguished Scholars Gerri Lamb and Mary Mauldin will bring together panelists who, by plan or necessity, are doing interprofessional practice and creating partnerships that challenge assumptions about how IPE is done. Their work reflects different answers to the “what if” questions. Each panelist will provide small actionable examples of local interprofessional partnerships that don’t try to do everything, but do involve new and unexpected players, and work to focus on meaningful measures of teamwork for patients and families. We have a feeling there are many of these examples in play right now and hope to use this conversation to jumpstart deeper exploration to create communities of action, partnership and support. Register today so you can join us for this important conversation.

Panelists include: 

• Richard P. Kratche, MD, FAAFP, Program Director, Dignity Health Family Medicine Residency, Dignity Health, Phoenix, Arizona
• Michelle L. Woodbury, PhD, OTR/L, Professor, Department of Health Science and Research, Division of Occupational Therapy, College of Health Professions, Medical University of South Carolina

We also encourage you to think about and explore strategies to move “From Questions to Action” locally as well. Here are a few ways to get started!

• Think about a project or initiative you are working to implement within your practice and education Nexus. What is an actionable next step you can define to cultivate your Nexus and advance your shared goals?

• Consider joining us at the Nexus Summit 2023 to learn more about the Nexus and important work happening nationally. Sign up to participate in the Moving to Action Launch Party designed to bring practice and education partnerships together to learn and share ideas and make a commitment to action to advance IPE outcomes that matter locally.