Resource Center

OBJECTIVE

Describe a model of inpatient care and measure its impact.

DESIGN

A quantitative assessment of the implementation of a new model of care. The graded implementation of the model allowed us to follow outcomes and measure their association with the dose of the implementation.

SETTING AND PATIENTS

Inpatient medical and surgical units in a large academic health center.

INTERVENTION

We live in two inter-related worlds of interprofessional education and collaborative practice (IPECP) by simultaneously implementing and evaluating the University of Minnesota IPECP program, across 21 schools and programs on three campuses and in our work in the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education. We are constantly grappling with “on the ground” challenges and national issues that arise in the center; therefore, we are gaining a unique perspective about IPECP.

There is a current emphasis on interprofessional education in health care with the aim to improve teamwork and ultimately the quality and safety of care. As part of a Health Resources and Services Administration Advanced Nursing Education project, an interprofessional faculty and student team planned and implemented the first didactic coursework for nurse-midwifery and medical students at the University of California, San Francisco and responded to formative feedback in order to create a more meaningful educational experience for future combined cohorts.

Scheduling interprofessional team-based activities for health sciences students who are geographically dispersed, with divergent and often competing schedules, can be challenging. The use of Web-based technologies such as 3-dimensional (3D) virtual learning environments in interprofessional education is a relatively new phenomenon, which offers promise in helping students come together in online teams when face-to-face encounters are not possible.

Interprofessional education may be defined as an occasion when two or more professions learn with, from, and about each other in order to improve collaboration and quality of care. We studied the self-reported experiences from Norwegian health care students participating in interprofessional workplace learning in primary care. We discuss the results particularly in light of self-determination theory.

Forty faculty members from eight schools participated in a year-long National Faculty Development Program (NFDP) conducted in 2012–2013, aimed at developing faculty knowledge and skills for interprofessional education (IPE). The NFDP included two live conferences. Between conferences, faculty teams implemented self-selected IPE projects at their home institutions and participated in coaching and peer-support conference calls. This paper describes program outcomes. A mixed methods approach was adopted. Data were gathered through online surveys and semi-structured interviews.

Background

Extended hospital stays and complications are common among older adults and may lead to morbidity and loss of independence. Specialized geriatric units have been shown to improve outcomes; but, with the growing numbers of older adults, may be difficult to scale to meet needs.

Purpose

The literature on interprofessional education (IPE) in allied health has historically been atheoretical and dominated by interventionist approaches using survey-based methods. Little is known about the social and contextual factors underpinning university-based interprofessional socialisation across allied health degrees. Using Holland et al.’s theory of ‘identities as practice’ and in-depth interview data from 19 students, we analyse first year Australian allied health students’ experiences of university-based IPE.

This article presents the design and evaluation of an interprofessional multiple-patient simulation between nursing and graduate dietetic students. Dietetic students' completed surveys were observed, scored, and debriefed during 3 patient simulations, and submitted plans of care. Fifteen of the 16 students agreed that the simulation enhanced interprofessional communication skills. Plans of care improved after debriefings, and 37 of the 39 nursing students who completed the simulation with dietetic students said the experience helped them learn the dietitian's role.

Achieving safe, quality health care is highly dependent on effective communication between all members of the healthcare team. This study explored the attitudes and experiences of recent healthcare graduates regarding interprofessional teamwork and communication within a clinical setting. A total of 68 pharmacy, nursing, and medicine graduates participated in 12 semi-structured focus group discussions in clinical workplaces across three Australian states.