A university-wide seed grant program accelerates interprofessional education through faculty and staff engagement.

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio launched an annual university-wide seed grant program in 2019 to foster innovation in interprofessional education (IPE) and increase IPE opportunities for learners. Program objectives included leveraging hypothesis-driven research to identify sustainable IPE activities for integration into educational programs (i.e. mandated for at least one cohort of learners), increasing scholarly dissemination of IPE efforts, and using pilot data to secure extramural funding. Over the first four funding cycles (2019-2022), US$100,509.00 was awarded to support 22 IPE projects (10 curricular, 12 co-curricular) involving 80 faculty and staff collaborators and over 2,100 student participants. To date, funded projects have yielded nine sustained IPE activities (four of which have been integrated), produced 24 scholarly presentations and three peer-reviewed publications, and contributed to the success of one extramural grant. Barriers experienced are discussed in this report alongside lessons learned and unexpected positive outcomes, including identification of future IPE champions.

Clinical Interprofessional Education in Inpatient Pharmacy: Findings From a Secondary Analysis of a Scoping Review.

OBJECTIVES: Clinical interprofessional education (IPE) is defined as learning that occurs within clinical learning environments such as hospitals, primary care clinics, and long-term care facilities where learners collaborate to deliver care to real patients. The objective of this secondary analysis of a scoping review is to identify, characterize, and summarize evidence from the published literature regarding clinical IPE for pharmacy learners in the inpatient setting. FINDINGS: PubMed, CINAHL, and Scopus databases were searched for clinical IPE articles that met the following inclusion criteria: ≥ 2 health professions, ≥ 2 learner groups, and involvement of real patients/patient care. For this secondary analysis, 12 articles involving pharmacy learners in an inpatient setting were included. The most common interprofessional partner was medicine (66%), and the median number of student participants involved in the activity was 19 (range, 10-525). Five studies conducted clinical IPE in the context of advanced pharmacy practice experiences. Clinical IPE activities were described primarily as inpatient rounding with the medical team, but were often outside the normal clinical workflow (66%). Incorporation of Interprofessional Education Collaborative competencies was limited, as was the use of validated IPE assessment tools to measure outcomes. SUMMARY: Current literature is limited in reports of pharmacy learner involvement in inpatient clinical IPE. Expansion of pharmacy partnerships and alignment of team outcomes with the Interprofessional Education Collaborative competencies are needed to demonstrate the relationship between clinical IPE and patient care outcomes within established workflows.

Innovation in Collaborative Online Learning Yields Sustainable Model for University-wide Interprofessional Education.

BACKGROUND: Growing health professional accreditation mandates and expectations for interprofessional education (IPE) have led to heightened interest amongst health professions educators and administrators in the creation and development of effective and sustainable IPE programming. IPE ACTIVITY: At the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, an institution-wide initiative called Linking Interprofessional Networks for Collaboration (LINC) was initiated to strengthen IPE knowledge and skills, increase IPE offerings, and integrate IPE into curricula. In 2020, stakeholders developed, implemented, and evaluated a university-wide IPE activity called the LINC Common IPE Experience, which includes three collaborative online learning modules that students complete synchronously using a videoconference platform without direct faculty facilitation. Mini-lectures, interprofessional discussions, and authentic case studies using innovative media facilitated meaningful engagement of 977 students from 26 different educational programs. DISCUSSION: Quantitative and qualitative results from evaluations demonstrated significant student engagement, increased awareness and understanding of teamwork, progress towards interprofessional competency development, and benefits related to professional development. The LINC Common IPE Experience provides a valuable example of a robust, high-impact foundational IPE activity that can serve as a sustainable model for university-wide IPE.

Defining and classifying co-curricular interprofessional education in the health professions: a scoping review protocol.

OBJECTIVE: This scoping review will identify, characterize, and classify co-curricular interprofessional education activities and practices. INTRODUCTION: According to the World Health Organization, interprofessional education occurs when students from two or more professions learn about, from, and with one another to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes. As such, interprofessional education is imperative to health professions education. Globally, competency frameworks and guidelines have urged educators to reach consensus about interprofessional education terminology and to integrate this form of education into formal curricula. Voluntary interprofessional education that takes place outside formal curricula (ie, co-curricular) is frequently used to overcome well-documented barriers (eg, discordant academic calendars). We will explore the global literature to identify, characterize, and classify published examples of co-curricular interprofessional education activities. INCLUSION CRITERIA: This review will consider voluntary interprofessional education involving students from at least two different health professions. These education activities will take place outside the formal curriculum and will not result in transcript designation. METHODS: The search strategy will aim to locate primary studies from peer-reviewed journals indexed in MEDLINE, CINAHL, Scopus, ERIC, and Academic Search Complete. The results will be limited to English-language publications from 2009 until the present. Two independent reviewers will screen titles and abstracts, and potentially relevant papers will be assessed in detail. Data will be extracted using a tool developed by the reviewers. Descriptive statistics will be used to characterize the data, which will be presented in diagrammatic, tabular, or other relevant formats.

Interprofessional communication in medical simulation: findings from a scoping review and implications for academic medicine.

BACKGROUND: Interprofessional communication is fundamental to the delivery of healthcare and can be taught in medical school and other health professional schools through interprofessional education (IPE) activities. Simulation centers have become a predominant location for simulation IPE activities with infrastructure able to support high fidelity activities in a controlled environment. In this secondary analysis of a scoping review conducted on simulation-based IPE, we describe the characteristics of previously reported simulation IPE activities involving undergraduate medical students in a simulation center focused on interprofessional communication. METHODS: Electronic searches of PubMed, CINAHL, and ERIC databases in accordance with PRISMA-ScR guidelines were conducted to isolate relevant articles from 2016-2020. In total, 165 peer-reviewed articles met inclusion criteria and data extraction linked to four research questions was applied by one individual and the accuracy was confirmed by a second individual. A secondary analysis was performed to describe what existing approaches for simulation IPE in simulation center settings have been used to explicitly achieve interprofessional communication competencies in undergraduate medical education. A sub-dataset was developed from the original scoping review and identified 21 studies describing simulation IPE activities that took place in dedicated simulation centers, targeted the IPEC interprofessional communication domain, and involved undergraduate medical students. RESULTS: Though diverse, the majority of simulation IPE activities described high-fidelity approaches involving standardized patients and utilized assessment tools with established validity evidence in IPE activities to measure learning outcomes. A minority of simulation IPE activities were described as hybrid and utilized more than one resource or equipment for the activity and only two were longitudinal in nature. Learning outcomes were focused predominantly on modification of attitudes/perceptions and few targeted higher levels of assessment. CONCLUSIONS: Educators charged with developing simulation IPE activities for medical students focused on interprofessional communication should incorporate assessment tools that have validity evidence from similar activities, target higher level learning outcomes, and leverage hybrid models to develop longitudinal simulation IPE activities. Though an ideal environment to achieve higher level learning outcomes, simulation centers are not required for meaningful simulation IPE activities.

Clinical interprofessional education in the health professions: a scoping review protocol.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this scoping review is to identify, characterize, and summarize evidence from the published literature on clinical interprofessional education. INTRODUCTION: Clinical interprofessional education refers to learning within clinical learning environments, such as hospitals, primary care clinics, and long-term care facilities. The learning involves direct interaction with real patients, where learners collaborate to deliver care and improve health outcomes. INCLUSION CRITERIA: This scoping review will consider clinical interprofessional education activities in the context of patient care. Criteria include two or more health professions, two or more learner groups, and involvement of real patients/patient care. METHODS: This review will be conducted in accordance with the JBI methodology for scoping reviews. Databases searched will include PubMed, CINAHL, and Scopus. Results will be limited to English language publications from 2015 to the present. Extracted data will include the different types of clinical learning environments, the professions involved, the targeted learning/competency outcomes, and the measurement tools used by the authors. Titles/abstracts and full texts of articles will be screened by two reviewers for potential inclusion, with discrepancies resolved by a third reviewer if necessary. Extracted data will be presented in diagrammatic or tabular format. A narrative summary will accompany the tabulated and/or charted results, describing how the results relate to the review objective and research questions, and how the results might inform future clinical interprofessional education in health professions education.

Implementation of the Individual Teamwork Observation and Feedback Tool to Evaluate Pharmacy Student Performance.

Objective. To determine the appropriateness and feasibility of implementing the Individual Teamwork Observation and Feedback Tool (iTOFT) in advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs) to allow direct observation and rating of students' interprofessional teamwork skills.Methods. In the academic year 2018-2019, preceptors administered iTOFT at least once during required acute care and ambulatory care APPEs. After administration, which involved direct observation of students' behavior on an interprofessional team, preceptors evaluated iTOFT results and offered feedback to students. To determine implementation success of the iTOFT activity, an implementation satisfaction survey was administered to preceptors and students, which included questions on appropriateness and feasibility.Results. The iTOFT activity was completed 149 times each during required acute care and ambulatory care APPEs. Results demonstrated positive teamwork behaviors, eg, no students received an "inappropriate" rating on any iTOFT item. The implementation survey response rate was 33% (34/102) for preceptors and 40% (50/125) for students. Both groups reported that the iTOFT activity was feasible. Respondents also reported that completing the iTOFT activity did not interfere with workflow and that it was not difficult to find opportunities to complete it. Per preceptor report, mean time to complete the iTOFT activity was 37.7 minutes, but there were concerns identified regarding fidelity with all iTOFT steps.Conclusion. Incorporation of the iTOFT activity into the required acute and ambulatory care APPEs at a school of pharmacy was feasible. Future directions include determining ways to increase iTOFT fidelity.

Simulation interprofessional education in health professions education: a scoping review protocol.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this scoping review is to identify, collate, and map the evidence on simulation interprofessional education activities in any setting for the education of health professional students. INTRODUCTION: Simulation interprofessional education activities comprise in-person and collaborative online learning embedded in formal curricula. Though the number of simulation interprofessional education activities has increased with the knowledge of the importance of effective interprofessional collaboration, the literature still lacks a description of the characteristics of existing activities. INCLUSION CRITERIA: This scoping review will consider interprofessional education activities taking place within a simulation environment. Included papers will report on activities with two or more types of learners in health professional programs. METHODS: The proposed scoping review will be conducted in accordance with the JBI methodology for scoping reviews. Databases searched will include PubMed, CINAHL, and ERIC. Results will be limited to English-language publications from 2016 to the present year. Data extraction will be performed using a purposefully developed data extraction tool. Teams of reviewers will screen abstracts and full texts of articles for potential inclusion, and decisions will be determined via consensus of two out of three reviewers. Extracted data will be presented in diagrammatic or tabular form in a manner that aligns with the objective of this scoping review. A narrative summary will accompany the tabulated and/or charted results and will describe how the results relate to the review's objective and questions, and how the results might inform future simulation interprofessional education activities in health professions education.

A state-level needs analysis of community pharmacy point-of-care testing.

BACKGROUND: The uptake of point-of-care testing (POCT) within community pharmacies at state and national levels is largely unknown despite the endorsement and advocacy efforts of pharmacy organizations, recent legislative advances, and numerous models for successful POCT implementation within individual pharmacy sites. OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to describe the current landscape of POCT in Wisconsin community pharmacies and identify opportunities for the advancement of testing and the key factors influencing the realization of these opportunities. METHODS: A survey was administered over the telephone to pharmacy managers of community pharmacies in Wisconsin. The sites were randomly selected from predefined geographic regions to mirror pharmacy distribution across Wisconsin. The survey items evaluated provision of POCT, future direction of POCT, barriers and motivators to offering POCT, and pharmacy demographics. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were used to analyze data. RESULTS: Pharmacy managers from 147 of the 938 registered community pharmacies (15.7%) participated in the survey. Only 17.1% of the pharmacies were offering POCT; however, 48.3% of managers reported that their pharmacy would likely implement or expand POCT within the next 5 years. The most commonly reported barriers to initiating or expanding POCT were the limitations on pharmacist availability to oversee testing and workflow restrictions. Continuing to advance the pharmacy profession was a top reason for offering or expanding testing services. DISCUSSION: While few pharmacies are offering POCT in Wisconsin, there is motivation for expansion in coming years. Understanding, anticipating and addressing common barriers can faciliate this process. CONCLUSION: This needs analysis offers a blueprint for researchers, educators, and clinicians to shape POCT efforts by examining the landscape of pharmacy-based testing in their own states and communities.

Improving stereotypes: The impact of interprofessional education in pre-health students.

Research within interprofessional education (IPE) indicates health professional students hold stereotypes of other health professions at all stages within their academic journey. IPE can minimize negative stereotypes and influence a student's willingness and readiness to collaborate with others. This article explores undergraduate pre-health student stereotypes of various health professionals at the beginning and end of a six-week summer academic enrichment program, which included IPE. Convenience sampling was used to request participation in a survey, which included the Student Stereotypes Ratings Questionnaire (SSRQ). The SSRQ asks students to rate their perception of health professions on multiple traits. One hundred pre-health students across three institutions completed the SSRQ. The mean scores across all professions and all traits increased post-survey. Lowest pre-mean scores were for nursing (the ability to work independently and the ability to lead a team) and registered dietitian (the ability to lead a team). The highest pre-mean score was for the physician profession for academic ability. Results from this study indicate varying levels of stereotypes have already developed in pre-health students. After the six-week program, pre-health students' perceptions of health professions were positively affected. Data from this study indicates there are benefits to exposing pre-health students to IPE.

Assessing dental student perceptions after engaging in a longitudinal interprofessional education curriculum: A preliminary study.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: Baseline IPE perceptions for dental students were gathered prior to the implementation of a 2-year formalised IPE curriculum at a US institution. The goal was to establish a baseline of student perceptions and, in the future, continue to track student IPE perception data with IPE engagement as one measure of outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to analyse two dental student cohort perceptions of IPE after engaging in a 2-year longitudinal curriculum. METHODS: First- and second-year students were required to participate in a 2-year IPE curriculum. As a requirement of the curriculum, students were asked to complete a validated IPE assessment, the Student Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education-Revised instrument, version 2 (SPICE-R2). Students completed the SPICE-R2 survey, using a retrospective pretest/post-test design, after engaging in the 2-year curriculum. RESULTS: Sixty-four students in cohort 2017 and 70 students in cohort 2018 completed the entire SPICE-R2. Statistically significant positive changes (p < .05) were found in both dental student cohorts after engagement in the 2-year longitudinal IPE curriculum. CONCLUSION(S): A longitudinal IPE curriculum has the potential to impact student IPE perceptions. Additional longitudinal multi-institutional research is needed to determine best practices in delivery and learning.

Let External Stakeholders Be Your Guide to Curricular Revision.

Schools and colleges of pharmacy undertake curriculum revisions for a variety of reasons ranging from the reactionary (eg, responding to changes in practice patterns, accreditation standards) to the proactive (eg, striving for innovation and excellence). Continuous quality improvement processes and published curriculum models, both described in this commentary, should be used to guide revision processes. Equally important is engaging the expertise of external stakeholders. While there may be challenges to incorporating external stakeholders in a curriculum revision process, their perspectives and knowledge can contribute to a more robust result, often in unexpectedly positive ways. Logic modeling is one mechanism to structure this approach, maximize the utility of external stakeholders, and strengthen the overall curriculum revision process. Regardless of the size of the revision, a good rule of thumb is to engage external stakeholders at the outset and to let their expertise be your guide.

Validity and reliability of an adapted German version of the Student Perceptions of Physician-Pharmacist Interprofessional Clinical Education Instrument, version 2 (SPICE-2D).

OBJECTIVES: Evaluation of an interprofessional education (IPE) course at a German university was complicated by the lack of validated German versions of IPE assessment instruments. The objectives of this study were to (1) translate version 2 of the Student Perceptions of Physician-Pharmacist Interprofessional Clinical Education (SPICE-2) and (2) test its validity and reliability. METHODS: After translation, the SPICE-2D instrument was administered electronically to medical and pharmacy students at four universities in Germany using a convenience sampling design. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to assess validity of the translated instrument. Goodness-of-fit assessment was conducted by evaluating the standardized root mean square residuals (SRMR), the comparative fit index (CFI) and the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA). Overall and factor-specific reliabilities of SPICE-2D were assessed using Cronbach's alpha. KEY FINDINGS: Four German universities participated. Response rate was 19.8% (n = 312/1576), mean age of respondents was 25.1 years (SD 3.3), and the majority were female (69%, n = 215). The SRMR of the overall model showed a good fit (0.061). The measured CFI of 0.95 and RMSEA of 0.072 (95% CI 0.053-0.091) can be considered acceptable. Cronbach's alpha indicated overall instrument reliability and composite reliabilities; only the reliability of factor 2 (Roles/responsibilities for Collaborative Practice) was mediocre (α = 0.41). Medical students scored consistently higher across all factors than pharmacy students. CONCLUSIONS: The SPICE-2D instrument demonstrated acceptable reliability, with the exception of the roles/responsibilities factor. A robust evaluation of SPICE-2D's validity and reliability in the context of a more representative sample of German medical and pharmacy students is warranted.

Developing Interprofessional Education at One U.S. Dental School: Establishing a Baseline and Moving Forward.

Dental schools across the U.S. are in the process of incorporating interprofessional education (IPE) into their curricula. At Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-New Orleans (LSUHSC), the process of educating competent students fully prepared to maximize patient outcomes through interprofessional care is under way. The aim of this study was to establish baseline data on three years of LSU dental students' perceptions of IPE prior to and as a new two-year IPE curriculum was being introduced. A survey was conducted of dental students in all four years from 2015 to 2017 using the Student Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education-Revised instrument, version 2 (SPICE-R2). In 2015, 120 students participated in the survey for a response rate of 46%, followed by 160 students in 2016 (62%) and 170 in 2017 (67%). The results showed that the first-year students in 2017 had a higher total SPICE-R2 mean score than the first-year students in 2015 and 2016; the difference was statistically significant. Even though the 2017 first-year students had only received an orientation to the curriculum at the time they completed the survey, this change in attitude suggests the new focus on IPE was already having an effect on students. There were no statistically significant differences between mean scores for the three cohorts of second-, third-, and fourth-year students, none of whom had experienced the new IPE curriculum. Data from this study will serve as a baseline from which to evaluate the impact of the new IPE curriculum that is now required of all first- and second-year dental students. Through continued IPE exposure in the curriculum and ongoing faculty development, further improvements in students' attitudes toward IPE can be anticipated.

Intentional Interprofessional Experiential Education.

The experiential component of a doctor of pharmacy curricula is an ideal, yet underutilized vehicle to advance interprofessional education (IPE) initiatives. To date, most experiential-based IPE initiatives occur in a naturally occurring, non-deliberate fashion. The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Experiential Education Section formed the Task Force on Intentional Interprofessional Education in Experiential Education in academic year 2015-2016 to explore the issue. This commentary describes the work of the task force, including the following elements: defining intentional interprofessional experiential education as "the explicit effort by preceptors and practice sites to create/foster educational opportunities or activities designed specifically to achieve interprofessional educational competencies;" conducting a systematic literature review to identify examples of intentional interprofessional experiential education in the published literature; surveying faculty with oversight of experiential education programs and preceptors within those programs; and generating recommendations to stakeholders including AACP, pharmacy schools, and experiential education administrators.

Overview of Faculty Development Programs for Interprofessional Education.

Objectives. To describe characteristics of faculty development programs designed to facilitate interprofessional education, and to compile recommendations for development, delivery, and assessment of such faculty development programs. Methods. MEDLINE, CINAHL, ERIC, and Web of Science databases were searched using three keywords: faculty development, interprofessional education, and health professions. Articles meeting inclusion criteria were analyzed for emergent themes, including program design, delivery, participants, resources, and assessment. Results. Seventeen articles were identified for inclusion, yielding five characteristics of a successful program: institutional support; objectives and outcomes based on interprofessional competencies; focus on consensus-building and group facilitation skills; flexibility based on institution- and participant-specific characteristics; and incorporation of an assessment strategy. Conclusion. The themes and characteristics identified in this literature overview may support development of faculty development programs for interprofessional education. An advanced evidence base for interprofessional education faculty development programs is needed.