Abstract
Interprofessional education (IPE) has emerged as a core educational method among human service and medical educational settings. Research suggests that learners who learn in IPE settings have better transdisciplinary communication skills and are better team members. Unfortunately, competing demands of multiple academic divisions can make facilitating IPE cumbersome. This chapter will describe the processes for developing, implementing, and evaluating an IPE experience drawn from de-identified patient records. The model includes information about incorporating learners from medicine, pharmacy, psychology, social work, and law, but could easily be expanded to include learners from other disciplines. The authors include descriptions of the process of implementing the unfolding case series in both face-to-face and live remote settings. This will include a sample case vignette, a pre-/post-survey, and learning objectives. Finally, the authors include opportunities for expansion and discussion of the challenges of implementing a curriculum targeted toward learners from diverse disciplines.
TopBackground
The World Health Organization (WHO) issued its first report recognizing the importance of interprofessional education (IPE) in health and social care curricula in 1978 (World Health Organization [WHO], 1978). In 2010, the WHO released its Framework for Action on Interprofessional Education & Collaborative Practice, in which it refers to IPE as a ‘necessary step’ in preparing a healthcare workforce to meet the needs of a constituency (WHO, 2010). Educators from a variety of healthcare and healthcare related disciplines have developed models of IPE. Additionally, a body of research has developed suggesting that IPE can be an effective strategy for developing professionals who provide more effective care and achieve higher patient satisfaction in settings as diverse as emergency departments, operating rooms, diabetes care and management, and mental health care (Reeves et al., n.d.).
In light of the growing understanding of the importance of IPE as a teaching modality, educational governing bodies from healthcare disciplines have developed competencies for interprofessional learning and practice as curricular components. Further, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, American Association of Osteopathic Medicine, Association of Schools of Public Health, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, American Dental Education Association, and the Association of American Medical Colleges have collaboratively released a comprehensive set of competencies for interprofessional practice, highlighting the importance of interprofessional care – and the teaching of interprofessional care – as a core means of achieving high quality patient care (Interprofessional Education Collaborative, 2011).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Breakout Rooms: Use of a group communication technology platform to place learners in small groups.
Interprofessional Collaborative Competencies Attainment Survey (ICCAS): A validated assessment tool used pre- and post- IPE sessions to assess changes in learners’ attitudes and opinions about collaborative patient care.
Whack-a-Mole: A colloquialism stemming from a Japanese arcade game and frequently used in the field of computer programming that refers to the process of finding a solution to a problem, only to find another problem popping up somewhere else.
Virtual: Use of a group communication technology platform to bring together a group of facilitators and learners for an educational experience.
Complex Patient: A patient who presents with multiple complicating issues, specifically from medical, social, psychological, or legal domains.
Remote Teaching: Teaching synchronous learners from distance locations via a communications platform.
Geriatric: Regarding a patient or the care of a patient who is 60 years old or older.