Design and Evaluation of an Interprofessional Preceptor Development Mini-Fellowship Program.

INTRODUCTION: Health professions preceptors require skills and knowledge to effectively meet the educational needs of interprofessional students in clinical environments. We implemented a mini-fellowship program to enhance the knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy of preceptors teaching students and applying quality improvement (QI) methods across disciplines and patient care settings. METHOD: The design, implementation, and evaluation of the program were informed by the faculty development literature, principles of adult learning, and preceptor needs. The 3-day program included workshops on curriculum design, clinical teaching methods, QI, social determinants of health, cultural humility, and interprofessional teamwork. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods were used including preprogram and postprogram knowledge and self-efficacy surveys, along with end-of-session and program evaluations. RESULTS: Five annual cohorts involving 41 preceptors with varied demographics, professions, and clinical practices completed the mini-fellowship program. Participants' percentage of items answered correctly on a QI knowledge test increased from 79.2% (pretest) to 85.5% (post-test), a gain of 6.3% (90% CI: 2.9-9.7%; P < .003). The average QI self-efficacy scores improved from 2.64 to 3.82, a gain of 1.18 points on a five-point scale (P < .001). The average education/teaching self-efficacy increased from 2.79 to 3.80 on a five-point scale (P < .001). Ultimately, 94% would recommend the program to other preceptors. DISCUSSION: An interprofessional preceptor development program designed to train clinicians to effectively teach in the clinical setting and to conduct QI projects with students was achievable and effective. This program can serve as a model for academic centers charged with training future health care workers and supporting their community-based preceptors' training needs.

C4Tech: Virtual connections between the classrooms, clinicians, and community clinics to bridge the gap between research and practice.

AIM: E-learning technologies are becoming vital components of medical and health professions education, as highlighted during the current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) considers education technologies essential to forming connections between education and healthcare delivery systems, which promote evidence-based practice and continuous learning and quality improvement in healthcare. There is a lack of evidence-based models to guide the integration of technology in medical and health profession education, in particular models that form synergistic linkages between healthcare education and delivery systems. This paper presents the evaluation of an innovative blended learning model, which leverages virtual technology to connect students in the classroom with clinicians in community clinics (C4Tech) for authentic learning related to quality improvement (QI) and social determinants of health (SDH). METHOD: This study applied a case study approach to evaluate the efficacy of the C4Tech model in supporting learning outcomes and assessed how virtual collaboration influenced the process of learning. RESULTS: This study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of how to design effective blended courses that connect the healthcare education and delivery systems through virtual technology. It also demonstrates how to connect students and practicing clinicians virtually to design evidence-based quality improvement projects.

Clinical coordination and the experiential year in physician assistant education.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine how clinical coordination is accomplished within physician assistant (PA) education and to identify effective practices for placing PA students into experiential rotations. METHODS: A survey was sent to all fully accredited PA programs asking the clinical coordinators to provide information about themselves and their institutions, programs, activities, and the individuals for which they had responsibility. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Ten independent variables were selected due to their expected potential to influence the following four dependent variables: length of most recent accreditation cycle, clinical coordination satisfaction, hours spent cultivating sites, and summed hours of clinical coordinator tasks that most directly impact students. Bivariate correlations between each independent variable and each dependent variable were calculated. The level of statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS: Fifty-two out of 130 eligible programs (40%) responded in part to the survey. The tasks clinical coordinators performed and the level to which they were responsible to complete these tasks varied considerably. Clinical coordinators reported being satisfied with their roles, able to help others, and successful in their work. The correlation between clinical coordination satisfaction and the availability of the preceptor incentive of campus privileges was inversely significant (r(25) = -0.464, p = 0.01). CONCLUSION: This study provides an overview of PA program clinical coordination practices and may have implications for programs that wish to benchmark or develop strategies to normalize the activities associated with their program's experiential year.