Our comprehensive approach to research and evaluation
To study and document the many different types of activities that will lead to changes in interprofessional practice and education at all levels, the National Center faces a daunting challenge. We have identified four broad strategies to generate evidence about the effectiveness of interprofessional practice and education and about the National Center itself:
- Evaluation of local interprofessional practice and education programs, studying issues of importance at specific sites as they strive to improve outcomes for students, practitioners, and individuals, families and communities
- Intervention research that will study connections among interprofessional education, teamwork in clinical practice, individual contexts and health outcomes
- Interprofessional practice and education research projects that will mine existing data sets to identify practices that have a positive effect on health outcomes
- Development of a National Center core data set that will enable researchers to study the effects of interprofessional practice and education over time
We are developing these four strategies with a mind to their potential use by a variety of participants in the expanding world of interprofessional practice and education—from individuals who hope to manage a chronic disease, to practitioners at clinics who see the promise of teamwork, to professors who hope to educate the next generation of health professionals in the ways of interprofessional practice, to policy makers who need to reduce the costs of health care.
A note about metrics and measures
The National Center is working with experts and leading organizations across the country to align our metrics and measures with existing and emerging national standards. We are focused on the Triple Aim framework of population health, experience of care and per capita cost.
Example resources and recent publications
- "A Guide to Measuring the Triple Aim: Population Health, Experience of Care, and Per Capita Cost" - Institute for Healthcare Improvement, 2012
- "Core Measurement Needs for Better Care, Better Health, and Lower Costs: Counting What Counts - Workshop Summary" - Institute of Medicine, 2013
- "Toward Quality Measures for Population Health and the Leading Health Indicators" - Institute of Medicine, 2013
- National Quality Forum
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Evaluating the National Center >