Resource Center

OBJECTIVE:

To implement a simulated interprofessional rounding experience using human patient simulators as a required activity for third-year pharmacy students in a clinical assessment course.

DESIGN:

Interprofessional student teams consisting of pharmacy, medical, and physician assistant students participated in a simulated interprofessional rounding experience in which they provided comprehensive medical care for a simulated patient in an inpatient setting.

ASSESSMENT:

The authors describe the prevalence, formation, maintenance, and evaluation of student aging interest groups. They conducted a cross-sectional electronic survey of the 46 academic medical centers funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. To evaluate their group of approximately 50 students, the authors conducted an electronic pretest and posttest of attitudes toward interdisciplinary education and knowledge about aging. Twenty-nine of 32 responding institutions funded by the Reynolds Foundation conducted a group; only medical students participated in one half of these groups.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the validity and reliability of an instrument to measure pharmacy students' attitudes toward physician-pharmacist collaboration, and compare those attitudes to the attitudes of medical students.

METHODS: One hundred sixty-six first-year pharmacy students and 77 first-year medical students at Midwestern University completed the Scale of Attitudes Toward Physician-Pharmacist Collaboration.

Following completion of an interprofessional simulation program for rapid response and code blue events, we explored hospital unit nurses' perspectives of the training, through a mixed-methods analysis. The results of this study advocate for the use of simulation training in preparing nurses and promoting communication among team members, effective teamwork, and early recognition of clinically deteriorating patients. This study provides support for the implementation and continued use of simulation interprofessional programs in hospital settings.

Effective interprofessional education engages participants in authentic tasks, settings and roles. Using these guiding principles, an interprofessional standardized patient exercise (ISPE) was developed and implemented for 101 dental, medical, nurse practitioner, pharmacy and physical therapy students. This study describes the ISPE and evaluates its impact on students' attitudes toward working in interprofessional teams. The attitudes toward health care teams (ATHCT) survey was administered pre- and post-ISPE and to a sample of non-participating students.

BACKGROUND:

This study evaluated the important relationship between faculty and student attitudes toward interprofessional education using the Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS).

METHODS:

Working effectively with other disciplines is an important and necessary skill for healthcare practitioners. Academic institutions can provide educational experiences that can begin to foster the prerequisite competencies needed to collaborate successfully with other healthcare professionals. The purpose of this study was to examine changes in attitudes toward learning from and collaborating with other healthcare students and professionals arising from an interprofessional educational (IPE) experience.

OBJECTIVES:

To assess the effectiveness of human patient simulation to teach patient safety, team-building skills, and the value of interprofessional collaboration to pharmacy students.

DESIGN:

Five scenarios simulating semi-urgent situations that required interprofessional collaboration were developed. Groups of 10 to 12 health professions students that included 1 to 2 pharmacy students evaluated patients while addressing patient safety hazards.

ASSESSMENT:

PubMed URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22787566

Although physicians and nurses play critical roles in providing team-based collaborative care, the literature on current relationships between physicians and nurses in typical health care settings reveals troublesome characteristics that affect the quality of the patient care that they provide. Studies report communication failures, poor coordination, and fragmented care within and across organizations, which then have been associated with medication errors, patient safety issues, and patient deaths.