The Interprofessional Care Access Network (I-CAN): achieving client health outcomes by addressing social determinants in the community.

Four health professions schools at an academic health science university and a partner state university collaborated to develop the Interprofessional Care Access Network (I-CAN), a model of healthcare delivery and interprofessional education that addresses the Triple Aims for vulnerable populations in three underserved neighborhoods. Program goals were achieved through community-based partnerships and the development of a health-care workforce prepared for competent practice in emerging models of care. In the first three years, almost 600 nursing, medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy students worked with clients referred from community partners, providing interprofessional care coordination addressing life instability and social determinants of health. The evaluation has demonstrated substantial improvement of health-related outcomes for clients who began in the first three years of the program and specifically those who completed intake and follow-up documentation (N = 38). There were substantial reductions in the aggregate number of emergency department visits, emergency medical service calls, and hospitalizations when compared to the 6 months prior to starting I-CAN. Estimated cost savings for the 38 clients, based on minimal estimated costs for these indicators alone, were over $224,000. A three-year qualitative review of client progress notes indicated that as a result of interprofessional student team interventions, many clients improved access to health insurance and primary care, and stabilized housing. Since the evaluation was completed, three programs have been added in rural and urban communities, demonstrating the model is scalable and replicable.

Sustainability of an IPCP program within a federally qualified health center including interprofessional student team placements.

In an effort to improve teamwork and collaborative care at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), the Midwest Interprofessional Practice, Education, and Research Center (MIPERC) collaborated on the implementation of an interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) program that included placement of multidisciplinary student teams. The MIPERC IPCP program supported staff, preceptor and student teams through interprofessional education and structured interprofessional activities for students, including daily huddles, interprofessional student team visits, and nurse triage phone calls. Results from the project's first year were previously reported (Nagelkerk et al., 2017b). Ongoing effects of IPCP on staff morale, IPE knowledge and practice efficiency were measured. Study tools included demographic forms, pre/post module knowledge tests, focus groups and program evaluations. The mean number of clinic patient visits per hour per medical provider was calculated to evaluate practice efficiency. Students (n = 26) and staff (n = 30) demonstrated improvement (p ≤.05) in knowledge test scores for Patient Safety, Team Dynamics and Tips for Behavioral Changes. Providers increased the number of patients seen per hour. Program evaluations and focus group data from providers, staff, and students indicated IPCP programs can be sustainable with ongoing intentional team care strategies.

Interprofessional service-learning definition.

In 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO) published the WHO's Framework for Action on Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice recognizing the significance of improved quality of patient care, lower healthcare costs and decrease medical errors through the use of interprofessional teams. This concept was embraced by the Midwest Interprofessional Practice Education and Research Center (MIPERC) and its Service-Learning workgroup, through the development of multiple interprofessional service-learning experiential opportunities for area health and medical students. Throughout MIPERC's journey of developing and providing interprofessional service-learning opportunities, we have unsuccessfully sought to find a definition of interprofessional service-learning to assist us in better framing our work. We have found definitions of service-learning and interprofessional learning as well as case examples of service-learning, interprofessional learning, and interprofessional service-learning but, no definition of interprofessional service-learning. Following a review of the relevant literature, we have developed a definition of interprofessional service-learning that we believe is comprehensive and will be of use to other interprofessional service-learning organizations in framing and developing interprofessional service-learning opportunities for their health and medical students.

Improving outcomes in adults with diabetes through an interprofessional collaborative practice program.

In 2014, the Midwest Interprofessional Practice, Education and Research Center partnered with a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) to implement an interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) education program to improve the health of adult patients with diabetes and to improve practice efficiency. This partnership included integrating an interprofessional team of students with the practice team. Twenty-five students and 20 staff engaged in the IPCP program, which included completion of educational modules on IPCP and implementation of daily huddles, focus patient visits, phone calls, team-based case presentations, medication reconciliation, and student-led group diabetes education classes. This study used a sequential mixed methods design. Tools used for collecting data from staff and students included demographic forms, the Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS), the Entry-level Interprofessional Questionnaire, the Collaborative Practice Assessment Tool, and pre/post module knowledge tests completed at baseline and at one-year post implementation. Patient clinical indicators included HgbA1c, glucose, lipid panel laboratory assessments, body mass index, blood pressure, and documentation of annual dental, foot, and eye examinations. Practice efficiency was measured by the average number of patients seen per provider per hour. Both students and staff showed significant knowledge gains in IPCP on Team Dynamics and Tips for Behavioural Changes knowledge tests (p < .05). Patients who had an HgbA1c of ≥ 7% significantly decreased their HgbA1c (p < .05) and glucose (p < .01). However, BMI and annual dental and eye examinations did not improve. Providers demonstrated an increase in the number of patients seen per hour. This IPCP intervention showed improvement in practice efficiencies and select patient outcomes in a family practice clinic.

Student Team Achievement Division as a tool for peer assisted co-operative learning in neuroanatomy.

Student Team Achievement Division (STAD) is a co-operative learning approach premised on a group learning activity that emphazises learning as a social exchange of knowledge between students, in which each student is accountable for his or her own learning and is also encouraged to assist others in achieving their goals. It promotes the cognitive, psychomotor, and emotional growth of students involved in the team. By random sequencing, 60 participants were allocated to interventional group (n=30) and control group (n=30). The participants of the interventional group were subjected to STAD strategy and participants of the control group were instructed to do a conventional self learning on the ventricles of brain. The outcomes were statistically analysed. It was found that the performance of the students is far better with STAD approach than conventional self learning. Our study has shown that Students team Achievement Division can be used as an effective tool for Peer assisted Co-operative Learning in Anatomy. Further studies can be done to investigate the contribution of STAD to teaching other disciplines of Anatomy and other basic medical sciences.

Effectiveness of Interdisciplinary Teaching on Creativity: A Quasi-Experimental Study.

Little is known about the effectiveness of Interdisciplinary teaching (IDT) in higher education, particularly for healthcare education in Taiwan. It is vital to determine if IDT could enhance divergent creative thinking and team creativity among nursing students. A quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design. Students enrolled in a capstone nursing course for the development of healthcare-related products were divided into two groups. The intervention group (n = 61) was taught creative thinking skills with IDT by faculty. The control group (n = 84) was taught by nursing faculty with traditional teaching. This study found that students who received the IDT intervention scored significantly higher on measures of creative thinking and team creativity compared with students in the control group. These findings suggest integrating IDT from nursing and design faculty into the teaching curriculum to foster students' creative thinking abilities when formulating interdisciplinary student teams to develop innovative, creative healthcare products.

Effect of interdisciplinary teaching on collaborative interactions among nursing student teams in Taiwan: A quasi-experimental study.

BACKGROUND: Empirical research has demonstrated the academic, collaborative, and organizational benefits of Interdisciplinary Teaching. However, few studies have examined the effectiveness of Interdisciplinary Teaching in higher education, particular in healthcare education in Taiwan. In addition, there is no consensus on how the effectiveness of this form of teaching should be evaluated. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of Interdisciplinary Teaching on collaborative interactions for teams of nursing students. DESIGN: A quasi-experimental study design employed pretest-posttest scores on measures of team collaboration to compare an Interdisciplinary Teaching intervention with a control group. SETTING: Capstone courses at two universities of science and technology in Taiwan, which focused on creating patentable healthcare-related products. PARTICIPANTS: Nursing students (N = 145) enrolled in capstone courses between September 2019 and January 2020 participated in this study. The intervention group (n = 61) received creativity training from interdisciplinary faculty from departments of nursing and design. The control group (n = 84) received traditional teaching from nursing faculty. METHODS: Data were collected using self-report instruments for team interaction behaviors, swift trust, and conflict at the beginning and end of the 18-week course. Differences between groups were examined with analysis of covariance. RESULTS: Compared with controls, nursing students in teams that received the teaching intervention had significantly better mean post-test scores for team interaction behaviors and the subscale for communication (both p < .05); team swift trust and affective-based trust (p < .001); and lower scores for the team conflict subscale of relationships (p = .01). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest creativity training using Interdisciplinary Teaching benefited collaborative interactions for interactive behaviors and swift trust, and decreased relationship conflict for teams of nursing students. Interdisciplinary Teaching should be integrated into nursing students' curriculum, which could enhance collaborative interactions and improve the ability of student teams to create novel, patentable healthcare products.

Patient-centeredness and empathy in a bilingual interprofessional primary care teaching clinic: a pilot study.

Utilizing the Consultation and Relational Empathy survey, this project examined the perceptions of care team empathy and patient-centeredness between English- and Spanish-speaking patients. From fall through spring semesters, patient surveys from a primary care, interprofessional student-led teaching clinic were collected and analyzed. Overall, mean scores for both English- and Spanish-speaking patients were above the reported normative average for general practitioners. While, overall, patients expressed satisfaction with the student-led teaching clinic in terms of empathy and patient-centeredness, English-speaking patients had higher median scores than Spanish-speaking patients. Analyzed individually, questions related to communication and provider attitudes were scored lower by Spanish-speaking patients. These results demonstrate that student-led clinics can deliver patient-centered care and highlight the continuing need to investigate and address disparities between English- and Spanish-speaking patients with regard to feelings of empathy and patient-centeredness.

Mobile clinics in Haiti, part 2: Lessons learned through service.

Learning from experience is a positive approach when preparing for mobile clinic service in a developing country. Mobile clinics provide healthcare services to people in hard to reach areas around the world, but preparation for their use needs to be done in collaboration with local leaders and healthcare providers. For over 16 years, Azusa Pacific University School of Nursing has sponsored mobile clinics to rural northern Haiti with the aim to provide culturally sensitive healthcare in collaboration with Haitian leaders. Past Haiti mobile clinic experiences have informed the APU-SON approach on best practices in study abroad, service-learning, and mission trips providing healthcare services. Hopefully, lessons learned from these experiences with mobile clinic service-learning opportunities in Haiti will benefit others who seek to plan study abroad service-learning trips for students in healthcare majors who desire to serve the underserved around the world.