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Through multiyear grants awarded by the Macy and Hearst Foundations, the Macy Interprofessional Collaborative is in year two of developing a simulation-based, team training program. The program's overall goal is to improve the delivery of safe, high quality care by increasing interprofessional team communication. The training will be validated and incorporated into existing, credit-based curricula in health sciences schools and will include both a faculty development component and an exportable web-based toolkit for adaptation of the training at other health science institutions.

This study describes nursing faculty's use, knowledge of, and training needs associated with distance learning, simulation, telehealth, and informatics tools in nursing education and practice. Web-based surveys were completed by 193 faculty members from nursing schools in the western United States. More than half of the respondents were frequent users of distance learning and informatics tools. Approximately 66% of faculty reported they were competent with distance learning and informatics tools.

There is a pressing need to redesign health professions education and integrate an interprofessional and systems approach into training. At the core of interprofessional education (IPE) are creating training synergies across healthcare professions and equipping learners with the collaborative skills required for today's complex healthcare environment. Educators are increasingly experimenting with new IPE models, but best practices for translating IPE into interprofessional practice and team-based care are not well defined.

BACKGROUND: Communication failures in healthcare teams are associated with medical errors and negative health outcomes. These findings have increased emphasis on training future health professionals to work effectively within teams. The Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS) communication training model, widely employed to train healthcare teams, has been less commonly used to train student interprofessional teams.

In this editorial, the author asserts that, although the current model of academic nursing is unlikely to change in the short-term, it is paramount that those in the field of academic nursing embrace the responsibility to be informed about health care reform and the different models of care (i.e., accountable care organizations, medical homes) and ensure that nursing students at all degree levels have opportunities to learn and engage with these initiatives through IPE and collaborative practice experiences.

The report of the Global Commission on Education of Health Professionals for the 21st Century, in The Lancet, calls for a new era of professional education. The production of this report was a tall task, and we applaud the commissioners for taking on such a challenge. Its publication has the potential to profoundly change the way we train future health professionals.

The rise of evidence-base practice (EBP) as a standard for care delivery is rapidly emerging as a global phenomenon that is transcending political, economic and geographic boundaries. Evidence-based nursing (EBN) addresses the growing body of nursing knowledge supported by different levels of evidence for best practices in nursing care. Across all health care, including nursing, we face the challenge of how to most effectively close the gap between what is known and what is practiced.

Jim Meyer talks with Connie Delaney, dean of the University of Minnesota School of Nursing, about what nursing schools - and individual students - need to know and possess to thrive in these changing times.

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OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to examine the impact of the use of an inter-professional care team on patient length of stay and payer charges in a geriatric transitional care unit.

METHODS: An analysis of de-identified administrative records for transitional care patients for the 12-month period (2003-2004) cared for by the inter-professional team (n = 163) and cared for by traditional single provider care model (n = 176) was carried out. We conducted logistic regression on length of stay and charges controlling for patient demographics and acuity levels.

To remain dynamic and viable, academic institutions preparing the future workforce need to convert to a more accessible and convenient pathway for students. The need for responsiveness is especially true when considering strategies to prepare an allied health workforce in areas of shortages and to meet the needs of the underserved. A blended or hybrid learning model that strategically uses web-based and face-to-face teaching/learning methods is an innovative and strategic way that promotes learner-centered higher education and facilitates a higher learning experience.