Learning Together: Interprofessional Education at the University of New England.

CONTEXT: Patient care delivered by well-functioning teams provides integrated and cohesive responses to the patients' needs and is considered more effective than care delivered by independent health professionals. The University of New England (UNE) College of Osteopathic Medicine integrates interprofessional education (IPE) curriculum into each year of its program. The UNE Center for Excellence in Collaborative Education coordinates strategically planned interprofessional learning opportunities. OBJECTIVE: To assess the implementation of interprofessional competencies and learning outcomes using the Interprofessional Team Immersion (IPTI) at UNE. METHODS: A team of students from various health profession programs worked on a simulated case with trained actors to learn about the roles and responsibilities of their professions in the optional IPTI. Pre- and postsurveys used the Interprofessional Core Competencies Assessment Scale (ICCAS) and the Interprofessional Socialization and Valuing Scale (ISVS) to evaluate student outcomes. RESULTS: Fifty-five students from various health profession programs at UNE participated in the IPTI activity in February/March 2018. Forty-four students (80%) responded to the surveys, and 43 (78%) completed both surveys. The mean (SD) total ICCAS score increased from presurvey (122 [27]) to postsurvey (127 [26]) (P=.018). The ISVS mean total scores increased from 48.3 presurvey to 57.9 postsurvey (P<.0001). CONCLUSION: The significant differences in the ICCAS and the ISVS scores indicate that the IPTI changed students' attitudes toward IPE and future collaborative practice. Interprofessional learning at UNE is a valuable experience for both students and faculty. UNE College of Osteopathic Medicine continues to develop IPE activities for all 4 years of its programming.

Bridging the gaps: An early integrated support collaborative for at risk mothers in rural Maine.

BACKGROUND: The antecedents that contribute to health disparities in maternal child health populations begin before birth and extend into the early prenatal and gestational growth periods. Mothers and infants living in rural poverty in particular are at considerable risk for problems associated with reproductive health, including pregnancy complications and premature births. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this manuscript is thus two-fold, to describe the epidemiologic makeup of the community and the intervention model of the Community Caring Collaborative. METHODS: Innovative models of early-integrated care for high-risk mothers and children are showing promise for long-term outcomes. They foster environments that enable mothers to trust health systems while maintaining a workforce of high functioning health workers who understand the mechanisms that underpin maternal and child health disparities. The Community Caring Collaborative in Washington County, Maine developed one such model that has made inroads in bridging such gaps. This manuscript explicates a case study of how the Community Caring Collaborative came into being and why it established the Bridging model of comprehensive care. The focus of this manuscript is thus two-fold, the community and the intervention model. RESULTS: The "bridging model" develops trust-based relationships between high-risk mothers with the health system and its multiple resources. Community members with advanced training provide the support and care linkages that are critical for family success. CONCLUSIONS: Innovative models of collaborative care impact the health of vulnerable mothers and their children working toward a marked decrease in health related disparities.

Relational learning and interprofessional practice: transforming health education for the 21st century.

Theories and traditions emphasizing the centrality of caring have guided the evolution of the healthcare professions. In contemporary practice, creating a therapeutic context in which healing can occur relies not just on the caring dispositions of individual clinicians, but also on the collective relational capacities of interprofessional healthcare teams. This article describes the intersection and complementarity of relational and interprofessional learning approaches to health education, provides exemplars of shared learning models and discusses the benefits and obstacles to integrating relational and interprofessional philosophies into real world practice.

Fostering the development of effective person-centered healthcare communication skills: an interprofessional shared learning model.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the implementation of an interprofessional shared learning model designed to promote the development of person-centered healthcare communication skills. PARTICIPANTS: Master of social work (MSW) and doctor of physical therapy (DPT) degree students. METHODS: The model used evidence-based principles of effective healthcare communication and shared learning methods; it was aligned with student learning outcomes contained in MSW and DPT curricula. Students engaged in 3 learning sessions over 2 days. Sessions involved interactive reflective learning, simulated role-modeling with peer assessment, and context-specific practice of communication skills. The perspective of patients/clients was included in each learning activity. Activities were evaluated through narrative feedback. RESULTS: Students valued opportunities to learn directly from each other and from healthcare consumers. Important insights and directions for future interprofessional learning experiences were gleaned from model implementation. CONCLUSIONS: The interprofessional shared learning model shows promise as an effective method for developing person-centered communication skills.

InterProfessional Education Collaborative (IPEC), The University of New England.

The University of New England includes more than a dozen health or health related programs within its colleges of Health Professions, Osteopathic Medicine, Pharmacy, Arts and Sciences, School of Public Health, and a soon to be founded College of Dental Medicine. For more than a decade, the Westbrook College of Health Professions has integrated interprofessional education into its programs. Early successes included extra-curricular programming such as seminars, symposia, a film series, research and scholarship days, interprofessional grand rounds, and cultural immersion experiences.

Introducing a caring/relational framework for building relationships with addicted mothers.

Health care practice with addicted mothers requires health professionals to both desire and acquire knowledge, skills, and attitudes geared toward developing relationships that foster trust. In this article, nursing and social work theories are used to offer an integrated and interdisciplinary framework for building relationships with addicted mothers in health care settings. Embracing and utilizing caring/relational concepts serve as an impetus to the development of effective relationships with this vulnerable population.

Mothers' perspectives on qualities of care in their relationships with health care professionals: the influence of relational and communicative competencies.

Research suggests that parents of seriously ill children place significant value on the relational context of their children's health care. This psychological phenomenological study explored mothers' perspectives on qualities that they found to be either helpful or unhelpful to their experiences of caregiving. Relational and communicative competencies were identified as most influential in mothers' assessments of provider care. Practitioners experienced in end-of-life care were viewed as highly supportive by the mothers in the study. Training for professionals in principles of palliative and end-of-life care is recommended for those who work with these children and families.

What parents of seriously ill children value: parent-to-parent connection and mentorship.

The value of parent-to-parent support has been noted in research with parents of children who have a range of special needs and chronic medical conditions, however, less is known about the benefit of such mentorship for parents caring for seriously ill and dying children. Findings from a qualitative study with mothers of seriously ill children, including those whose children had died, provided rich and detailed information about the personal and practical resources they received from other parents. Personal recommendations to parents by parents included the value of seeking out mentorship and appreciating the small things in life, while practical suggestions encompassed encouraging parents to become informed and to advocate for their children's best interests. Mothers also identified professionals with end-of-life training as instrumental agents of support.

Hard stories in the workplace.

Relationships between family caregivers and professional health care providers typically begin during an intensely painful and stressful time. This article examines the literature on professional attitude and response to suffering with particular emphasis on how exposure to hard stories affects the development and quality of alliances with family caregivers. First person accounts from a qualitative, phenomenological study conducted with mothers of children with acquired physical disabilities are used to illustrate the perspectives of caregivers and the qualities they identify as contributing to competent, meaningful, and mutual relationships that allow for bearing witness to hard stories.