Akerson, E., Stewart, A., Baldwin, J., Gloeckner, J., Bryson, B., & Cockley, D. (2014). Got Ethics? Exploring the Value of Interprofessional Collaboration Through a Comparison of Discipline Specific Codes of Ethics. MedEdPORTAL.

Abstract

Introduction: Quality health care requires that health professionals are well informed about the contributions of their own and other health professionals. Ethics is a shared, relevant concern among health and human service disciplines and is an ideal vehicle for students from different fields to learn about one another's disciplines and to participate in interprofessional discussions and problem solving. This exercise is designed for undergraduate and graduate students in health and human services. The session may also be adapted for use as an in-service activity for practicing professionals. Methods: The session uses experiential and didactic methods. It consists of activities for small- and large-group interaction and facilitated discussions, with corresponding worksheets to guide and document student participation. The session can be used at any time in a course sequence and may be especially useful as an introductory session. Results: In fall 2011, 96 students participated in the exercise, and over 97% rated it as helpful or very helpful. In spring 2012, 96 students participated, and 98.5% rated the experience as helpful or very helpful. Faculty reported that the exercise was very valuable to their students and set a context for interprofessional collaborative practice. Discussion: The authors believe it is important to create a core interprofessional team of committed leaders/faculty who agree to be present together at all sessions as this enhances the learning for students. The faculty members interact with the content in ways that model interprofessional collaborative practice. The core competencies for interprofessional collaborative practice apply to faculty members as they teach an interprofessional case-based course collaboratively.

Armstrong, K.J., Walker, S.E., Feld, S.D., & Weidner, T.G. (2019). Athletic training students’ engagement in interprofessional education in the classroom and during clinical education. Journal of Interprofessional Care.

Abstract

Interprofessional education is an area of emphasis within healthcare. Little is known regarding what other healthcare professions athletic training students engage with during interprofessional education. Therefore, our purpose was to identify the healthcare students that athletic training students engage with in the classroom/laboratory and during clinical education. We used a cross-sectional survey design with open-ended questions to survey 90 athletic training program directors. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and an analysis of variance to determine differences between demographic characteristics and engagement with other healthcare students in the classroom/laboratory and during clinical education. The alpha level was set at .05. Overall, athletic training students regularly engaged with students from other healthcare professions in the classroom/laboratory and during clinical education, with physical therapy and nursing being most common. Unfortunately, more than 30% of respondents indicated no engagement with other healthcare professions during clinical education or in the classroom. It was concluded that athletic training faculty need to capitalize on opportunities to expose athletic training students to other healthcare students, as well as utilizing teaching and evaluation strategies that foster interprofessional education and practice. Similarly, students need to capitalized on opportunities to engage in interprofessional practice.

Baldwin, D.M., Zook, S. & Sandford, J. (2018). Implementing posthospital interprofessional care team visits to improve care transitions and decrease hospital readmission rates. Professional Case Management, 23(5). Pp. 264-271. Requires Ovid login

Description

Today’s health care climate is composed of patients who experience complex conditions with multiple comorbidities, requiring higher utilization of acute care services. It is imperative for acute care and primary care landscapes to bridge silos and form collaborative relationships to ensure safe and effective transitions of care from hospital to home. An interprofessional, posthospital follow-up clinic (Discharge Clinic) is one approach that can be used to improve transitions of care and decrease preventable hospital readmissions. The purpose of the Discharge Clinic is to improve transitions of care and decrease 30-day hospital readmission rates. The clinic’s objective is to utilize an interprofessional care team to improve transitions of care posthospital, for complex care patients. Primary Practice Setting: The posthospital Discharge Clinic is an innovative, interprofessional clinic located in a large western state that was initiated to improve transitions of care for its patients discharged from an acute care setting. The interprofessional care team consists of a certified family nurse practitioner, a clinical pharmacist, a nurse case manager, and a social worker. Findings/Conclusions: In 2013, Medicare and private coverage data reveal 30-day readmission rates of 17.3% and 8.6%, respectively (). From February 2016 to September 2016, Discharge Clinic project participants achieved a 30-day readmission rate of 2.7%. The Discharge Clinic enrolled 75 patients in the project (n = 75). The 30-day readmission rate achieved by the Discharge Clinic represents a significant decrease compared with national benchmark data. Two patients enrolled in the project were readmitted within 30 days of hospital discharge. For fiscal year 2015, the medical group’s estimated cost of readmissions was $7,156,800 and 30-day all-cause readmission rate was 12.3%. This equated to the Discharge Clinic’s estimated impact in reducing readmissions at 9.63% and an estimated savings of $689,199.84. The Discharge Clinic estimated its operating costs at $354,000, which gave a total estimated net savings of $335,199.84. Implications for Case Management Practice: The current health care landscape is composed of an aging population, rising in complexity. New approaches are needed to bridge gaps between acute care and primary care settings. The Discharge Clinic serves as an innovative model that health systems throughout the country can replicate to improve transitions of care for complex patients. The interprofessional care team model can be implemented to advance and bridge the management of acute and ambulatory care patient populations.

Dudding, C.C., Hulton, L., & Stewart, A.L. (2016). Simulated patients, real IPE lessons. The ASHA Leader, 52-59.

Excerpt from article

Interprofessional education (IPE) is gaining traction as interprofessional teaming increasingly defines our services and shapes our strategic planning. There’s no denying that we need to teach professionals-in-training how to work with professionals in other fields to achieve better outcomes for clients, as called for by— among others—the World Health Organization, the Institute of Medicine and ASHA’s Strategic Pathway to Success. Yet for all the buzz about IPE and interprofessional practice (IPP)—also known as interprofessional collaborative practice—many are left wondering what this service model actually looks like. How do we know if we are actually doing true interprofessional teaming? How do we best prepare professionals to do it? And how do we navigate the challenges? At JMU, our collaboration among the departments of communication sciences and disorders, nursing, and psychology explored these questions, with students consulting with faculty and each other on complex cases involving patients with multiple chronic conditions, such as brain injury, congestive heart failure and stroke.

Eaton, M.E., deValpine, M., Sanford, J., Lee, J., Trull, L., Smith, K. (2017). Be the change: An interprofessional team-based health advocacy summit. Nurse Educator, 42(5), 226-230. doi.org/10.1097/NNE.0000000000000382. Requires OVID login.

Description

In a complex health care environment, nursing and health care professional graduates should be able to understand and collaboratively advocate for health policy benefitting patients, families, and communities. This study explored the effectiveness of interprofessional team-based learning to improve political astuteness in undergraduate health profession students. This engaging method may prove to enhance health care professionals’ likelihood of understanding, involvement, and influencing health policy in the future.

Johnson, C. E., Stewart, A. L., Brabeck, M. M., Huber, V. S., & Rubin, H. (2004). Interprofessional collaboration: Implications for combined-integrated doctoral training in professional psychology. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 60(10), 995–1010.

Abstract

Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) is becoming “best practice” in the field of professional psychology and other health care professions. It was named as a core competency at Competencies 2002 and the Consensus Conference and has been endorsed by the American Psychological Association on several occasions. The authors provide a definition of IPC, present conceptual, scholarly, and pragmatic support for IPC, and offer guidance on how Combined-Integrated (C-I) doctoral programs in professional psychology can include IPC to ensure students are well equipped to respond to a client's complex needs. Furthermore, although C-I programs might be particularly well prepared to incorporate IPC into their training, it is argued that programs in the single practice areas of clinical, counseling, and school psychology also may benefit from the inclusion of IPC.

McGuire, L., Stewart, A., Akerson, E., & Gloeckner, J. (2020). Developing an Integrated Interprofessional Identity for Collaborative Practice. Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice, 20.

Abstract

Interprofessional education (IPE) is an essential component in preparing students for collaborative practice in healthcare. This paper provides information about an IPE course for undergraduate dietetics, social work, nursing and other pre-professional health students on ethical decision-making in healthcare. The authors collected and analyzed qualitative assessment data which demonstrated competency-building in the domain of interprofessional collaboration. Issues in pre-service professional socialization toward an integrated interprofessional identity are also discussed.

Nagel, J.K., Ludwig, P.M., & Lewis, E.J. (2017, June 25-28). Community health innovation through an interprofessional course [Paper presentation]. ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Columbus, OH, United States.

Description

The broad goal of this interprofessional course is to allow pre-professional biology, pre-nursing, and engineering students to leverage maker space technology to produce and communicate tangible solutions to current challenges in community health. For the past two iterations of the course students developed solutions to metabolic syndrome using maker space technologies (3D printing, laser cutters/engravers, virtual reality, and related software). Communication between disciplines that impact each other but may have different biases and goals is important, and is facilitated through teamwork. In the course, students receive explicit training in problem solving techniques, teamwork, and communication. For example, students form their teams using the Strengths Finder analysis to build on the individual strengths present in the group and the teams watch a video on the challenger disaster to evaluate the systemic reasons that led to a failure in team decision making. Additionally, the maker space is used to foster creative problem solving, collaboration skills, and knowledge of technologies that may shape their professions’ future. The instructors’ role in the course is to serve as facilitators and guides while students work to develop their solutions. This process ensures that students take ownership of their project as an engaged team and that students strengthen their problem-solving and collaboration skills. By modeling the course project interdisciplinary team structure with an interdisciplinary teaching team, the aim is to promote interdisciplinary learning, foster teamwork among the student teams, and improve student engagement. Other course objectives are to develop students’ creative problem solving, empathetic design practices, interprofessional communication skills, prototyping skills, and ethical reasoning. Students are expected to become proficient at the empathetic design process as well as interprofessional communication. Creative problem solving, ethical reasoning, and realization of a product through prototyping are expected to be emergent skills that will need further refinement after the course. Research was conducted with consenting participants from the course using qualitative content analysis of student responses to prompts with the aim of assessing course outcomes. Results indicate that the multidisciplinary experience and use of and maker technologies enhance student learning and engagement, foster teamwork and interprofessional skills, and increase students’ ability to innovate.

Pfeiffer, D., Pavelko, S., Hahs-Vaughn, D., & Dudding, C. (2019). A National Survey of Speech-Language Pathologists’ Engagement in Interprofessional Collaborative Practice in Schools: Identifying Predictive Factors and Barriers to Implementation. Language, Speech & Hearing Services in Schools, 50(4), 639–655.

Purpose

This study examined the models of collaboration used by school- based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) during the provision of special education services including factors predicting use of the interprofessional collaborative practice (IPP) model and barriers to collaboration. Method: School-based SLPs responded to a survey on models of collaboration within their work setting. Anchored vignettes were created to determine their engagement in 3 different models (i.e., multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and interprofessional) used in the provision of special education services during evaluation and intervention. Predictive factors supporting and/or hindering the use of IPP were identified. Results: Results demonstrated low percentages of school-based SLPs engaging in IPP during initial evaluations (8%), eligibility meetings (43%), and intervention sessions (14%). Three factors predicted use of IPP in schools: prior training in collaboration, years of experience, and educational setting. The most frequently cited barriers to SLPs' engagement in collaboration included time constraints/scheduling (48%), resistance from other professionals (23%), and lack of support from employers/administration (11%). Conclusions: The results of the current study indicated that systemic change is needed at both the university and public school levels. At the university level, preprofessional students need collaborative learning opportunities that are integrated across programs and colleges. School-based SLPs and other education professionals could benefit from job-embedded learning focused on IPP to increase their knowledge and engagement in IPP and improve student outcomes.

Rozensky, R. H., Grus, C. L., Goodie, J. L., Bonin, L., Carpenter, B. D., Miller, B. F., Ross, K. M., Rybarczyk, B. D., Stewart, A., & McDaniel, S. H. (2018). A curriculum for an interprofessional seminar on integrated primary care: Developing competencies for interprofessional collaborative practice. Journal of Allied Health, 47(3), e61–e66.

Abstract

Health care is increasingly delivered through team-based, collaborative strategies with interprofessional education as an important mechanism for building interprofessional practice competencies. This paper describes an Interprofessional Seminar on Integrated Primary Care (IS-IPC) designed to meet this educational need with interprofessional teambased learning as the foundation of an iterative process such that education and practice inform one another. The IS-IPC can be used to educate an interprofessional group of learners about key topics relevant to working together in integrated primary care. The IS-IPC describes steps in developing an interprofessional seminar, common challenges, and their solutions in creating interprofessional learning experiences, and eight foundational content modules containing an outline and curricular resources. The IS-IPC facilitates interprofessional educator partnerships at the local level and can be customized to fit the local environment, pedagogical philosophy, and learning objectives.

Strunk, J., Kipps-Vaughn, D., Pavelko, S., Allen-Bronough, D., Myers, K., Gilligan, T., Kielty, M., Richardson, E., & Tacy, J. (2019). Interprofessional education for pre-service school-based professionals: Faculty and Student collaboration. Teaching and Learning in CommunicationScience & Disorders, 3(1), 9.

Excerpts from article

Interdisciplinary teaming is an integral part of special education in the United States. With the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2004, special education services must be planned and implemented by a team of qualified professionals. For example, members of the Individual Education Program (IEP) team must include not less than one general education teacher, one special education teacher, a representative from the school, and the parent(s)/guardian(s) (IDEA, 2004). Together, these individuals must collaboratively develop a plan of service for a student. Collaboration is a large part of the job for professionals (e.g., nurses, school psychologists, school counselors, speech-language pathologists (SLPs), social workers, occupational therapists, and physical therapists) working in the schools; however, many professionals learn about collaboration in their specific disciplines without actually having the opportunity to collaborate across disciplines while receiving their training… The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of a one-day interprofessional learning experience designed to promote increased understanding of the various roles of school professionals and provide an opportunity for students to participate in interprofessional collaboration within a simulated school-based context.

Temple, A. & Mast, M.E. (2016). Interprofessional education through service learning with undergraduate health administration and nursing students. Journal of Health Administration Education, 33(1), 5-21

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to explore the effect of interprofessional education (IPE) with undergraduate nursing and health administration students through service learning with caregiving families. In addition to a shared orientation and final reflection, students were paired to provide in-home respite care for frail older adults. A mixed-methods approach was used to explore students' perceptions of interprofessional practice and its benefits using preand post-surveys completed by 44 students (59%). Results from Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test suggest the IPE intervention improved students' perceptions of interprofessional practice (z = -2.25, p < 0.05). Furthermore, qualitative themes indicated the shared learning contributed to greater awareness of role differences, respect for the other discipline, understanding of the importance of interprofessional practice, and learning from another discipline. IPE through service learning may be a valuable way to prepare students across clinical and nonclinical disciplines to work together as collaborative practice teams providing care to aging adults.

White, H., Stokes, T.F., Simons, E., Longerbeam, M., Richardson, E., & Zinn, T. (2018). Interprofessional practice for simultaneous implementation of merged techniques from three disciplines: OT SLP ABA. Journal of Interprofessional Education and Practice, 12, 1-7.

Abstract

Collaborative interprofessional education and practice are important goals for effective health care. The present study examined the simultaneous implementation of merged core techniques from three disciplines: Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Pathology, and Applied Behavior Analysis, in a program serving children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The intervention taught graduate student clinicians in an interprofessional clinic to execute a common set of procedures, simultaneously delivering them as part of their treatment sessions, while maintaining their home discipline's procedural integrity. Interprofessional coaching using remote communication technologies were implemented sequentially across participants in a multiple baseline design. This research demonstrated a model of interprofessional merge of therapy procedures for clinicians in practice under the supervision of licensed professionals and showed that changes in clinician's behavior were associated with improvements in child outcomes.

Zook, S.S., Hulton, L.J., Dudding, C.C, Stewart, A.L., Graham, A.C. (2018). Scaffolding interprofessional education: Unfolding case studies, virtual world simulations, and patient- centered care. Nurse Educator, 43(2), 87-91.

Description

Fragmentation of health care negatively impacts quality; one of the contributing factors may be ineffective collaboration among health care professionals. This article describes the implementation of an interprofessional education curriculum for graduate students enrolled in nursing, psychology, and speech-language pathology programs. Over 3 semesters, students engaged in interprofessional collaboration modules, unfolding case studies, virtual simulation, and shared case planning experiences. The curriculum's impact on students' attitudes and values toward interprofessional collaborative practice was measured.