Perceived Success After Participation in the Summer Health Professions Education Program.

Importance: The number of active health care professionals has not kept pace with the increasing number of minoritized individuals in the US. The Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP) was developed to alleviate this underrepresentation in the health workforce. Objective: To evaluate students' changes in perceived barriers and motivators for entering and succeeding in professional school after SHPEP participation. Design, Setting, and Participants: For this cohort study, anonymous electronic surveys were sent to the 2017 to 2021 SHPEP participants at an academic health center at a large university in the southern US. Participants were first- and second-year undergraduates interested in the health professions and enrolled in the SHPEP. Program participants were invited to complete the study. Exposures: An anonymous electronic survey was administered before and immediately after program completion. Main Outcomes and Measures: The SHPEP Career Barriers Survey (SCBS) is composed of 22 questions on motivators and 20 questions on barriers to entering and succeeding in health professional school. Students responded using a 5-point Likert scale, with 1 indicating strongly disagree and 5 indicating strongly agree. Mixed analysis of variance was used to analyze the program's latent factors. Results: Of all 402 SHPEP participants (mean [SD] age, 19.32 [0.88] years) from 2017 to 2021, 325 completed the preprogram survey and 259 also completed the postprogram survey. Of the 325 initial participants, 4 identified as American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander (1.2%); 12 as Asian (3.7%); 188 as Black (57.8%); 95 as Hispanic or Latino (29.2%); 7 as White (2.2%); and 16 as multiracial (4.9%). Two hundred twelve participants were female (65.2%), and 226 were first-generation college students (69.5%). Results of the SCBS indicate that the SHPEP had a significant small to moderate association on perceived motivators (mean [SD] x̅ = 84.60 [9.67] vs 80.95 [8.93]; P = .001) and decreases in perceived barriers (mean [SD] x̅ = 48.02 [13.20] vs 51.72 [11.39]; P = .008). There was no significant difference in program success between studied years. Conclusions and Relevance: In this cohort study, the SHPEP appeared to provide essential support for underrepresented students as measured by improved perceived motivators and reduced perceived barriers to entering professional education. Knowledge from this study can assist educators and health care professionals who wish to implement similar enrichment programs.

Interprofessional Education: An Innovative Approach to Increase the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Workforce.

Ending the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic relies on a robust clinical workforce. The Southeast AIDS Education and Training Center's interprofessional education program is a novel approach to increasing the interest and ability of early health professional learners to provide high-quality, comprehensive, person-first care for people with HIV. Key Points: Interprofessional education (IPE) focusing on multidisciplinary care for people with HIV can serve as a novel way to increase the HIV workforce. This brief report describes the IPE program of the Southeast AIDS Education and Training Center.

Dental student perceptions of teamwork during a community-engaged interprofessional learning experience.

INTRODUCTION: Dental professionals have been strong advocates for interprofessional education (IPE). During PFF, students in diverse, interprofessional teams of four are assigned a local volunteer family during their first academic year. Teams conduct four home visits and implement a health improvement project focused on the family's health and well-being. The purpose of our analysis was to examine dental student perspectives on the use of teamwork skills during this unique interprofessional educational experience. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Dental student responses from 2017 to 2018 and 2018 to2019 were qualitatively analysed. Open coding by hand was used to identify keywords and themes. The themes and open codes were compared and contrasted by the researchers until a consensus was reached on themes. RESULTS: Researchers discerned three meta-themes: value, skills and time. Researchers also found eight sub-themes prevalent in responses: teamwork, adaptability, mutual support, trust, interprofessional communication, time, feedback, coordination and accountability. DISCUSSION: Our findings indicate dental students understood the importance of interprofessional teamwork and experiential learning within the context of PFF. Students communicated an understanding of how teamwork skills can impact team-oriented outcomes. Dental students seemed to value many teamwork skills that contributed to their interprofessional team's success and experiential learning experience. CONCLUSION: Engagement in a longitudinal experience that is patient-centred, requiring time outside of the classroom, is valued by dental students for its interprofessional collaborative competency development.

Contemporary Challenges for Veterinary Medical Education: Examining the State of Inter-Professional Education in Veterinary Medicine.

Educational training in professional programs forms the foundation for how a person problem-solves throughout their career. However, training focused on only one profession ignores the value realized through collaborations among multiple professions for solving health-related problems. This is at the core of inter-professional education (IPE). Effective IPE programs can result in inter-professional collaboration and translation science endeavors across the health sciences and beyond. Recent events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the opioid crisis highlight the importance of veterinary medicine in advancing One Health through IPE. The prevalence of IPE programs in veterinary curricula, and the process by which these have been established, has not been widely described in the literature. Through an 18-question survey sent to associate deans (ADs) of 50 veterinary schools, we sought to determine the status of IPE in the veterinary curriculum. Thirty-nine schools agreed to participate, representing primarily United States Doctor of Veterinary Medicine public and private programs with some representation from Canadian, United Kingdom, and Australasian programs. Schools that provide IPE courses developed their programs in collaboration with other health sciences programs across the 4-year curriculum. The perceived barriers for IPE offerings were no different between schools with or without opportunities; however, a lack of faculty and student-perceived value and lack of adequate space in the academic schedule were common threads. Our findings provide a snapshot of the current state of IPE in veterinary medical curricula, with a particular emphasis on the United States, and point to areas of programmatic need for the field.

Assessing professionalism in health profession degree programs: A scoping review.

BACKGROUND: To identify and classify methods for assessing professionalism across health profession degree programs and identify gaps in the literature regarding types of assessments. METHODS: The authors conducted a scoping review of articles published from database inception through 24 January 2020. Included articles described an assessment approach for professionalism in health profession degree programs available in full-text in the English language. Articles were classified based on profession, timing of assessment, feedback type, assessment type, professionalism dimension, and Barr's modified Kirkpatrick hierarchy. RESULTS: Authors classified 277 articles meeting inclusion criteria. Most articles were from medical education (62.5%) conducted during didactic (62.1%) or experiential/clinical curriculum (49.8%). Few articles (15.5%) described longitudinal assessment. Feedback type was formative (32.2%) or summative (35%), with only 8.3% using both. Assessment types frequently reported included self-administered rating scales (30%), reflections (18.8%), observed clinical encounters (17.3%), and knowledge-based tests (13.4%). Ethical practice principles (65%) and effective interactions with patients (48.4%) were the most frequently assessed dimensions of professionalism. Authors observed balanced distribution among Barr's modified Kirkpatrick model at levels of reaction (38.3%), modification of perceptions and attitudes (33.6%), acquisition of knowledge and skills (39%), and behavioral change (36.1%). IMPLICATIONS: The classification scheme identified in current literature on professionalism assessment does not align with International Ottawa Conference Working Group on the Assessment of Professionalism recommendations. Gaps identified were limited description of professionalism assessment during admissions, infrequent longitudinal assessment, limited use of methods for both formative and summative assessment, and limited reports of assessments applicable to interprofessional education settings.

Design of a Situational Judgment Test for Preclinical Interprofessional Collaboration.

PROBLEM: There is an unmet need for economically feasible, valid, reliable, and contextually relevant assessments of interprofessional collaborative knowledge and skills, particularly at the early stages of health professions education. This study sought to develop and gather content and internal structure validity for an Interprofessional Situational Judgement Test (IPSJT), a tool for the measurement of students' interprofessional collaborative intentions during the early stages of their professional development. APPROACH: After engaging in an item development and refinement process (January-June 2018), an 18-question IPSJT was administered to 953 first-year students enrolled in 10 health professions degree programs at the University of Florida Health Science Center in October 2018. The IPSJT's performance was evaluated using item-level analyses, item difficulty, test-retest reliability, and exploratory factor analysis. OUTCOMES: Seven hundred thirty-seven (77.3%) students consented to the use of their data. Student IPSJT scores ranged from 0 to 69, averaging 42.68 (standard deviation = 12.28), with some statistically significant differences in student performance by health professions degree program. IPSJT item difficulties ranged from 0.13 to 0.92. Once one item with poor properties was excluded from analysis, the IPSJT demonstrated an overall reliability of 0.62. Students were more successful at identifying the least effective than the most effective responses. Test-retest reliability provided evidence of consistency (r = 0.50, P < .001) and similar item difficulty across administrations. An exploratory factor analysis indicated a 3-factor model with multiple cross-factor loadings. NEXT STEPS: This work represents the first step toward the development of a valid, reliable IPSJT for early learners. The emergent 3-factor model provides evidence that multiple competencies can be assessed in early learners via this tool. Additional research is necessary to build a more robust question bank, explore different scoring and response methods, and gather additional sources of validity evidence, including relations to other variables.

Physician Cultural Competency Training and Impact on Behavior: Evidence From the 2016 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The number of racially and culturally diverse patients in the medical practices of US physicians is increasing. It is unclear how well culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS) standards have been integrated into physician practice. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of US-based physicians who received training in cultural competency and describe their behavior. METHODS: This survey study utilized data from a supplement of the 2016 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS). The NAMCS Supplement on CLAS for Office-based Physicians (National CLAS Physician Survey) is a nationally representative survey of ambulatory physicians. We determined the proportion and characteristics of physicians who reported receiving cultural competency training in medical school or in practice. RESULTS: The unweighted sample of 363 yielded a weighted sample of 290,109 physicians, 66.3% of whom reported that they had received cultural competence training at some point. Only 35.5% of the sample had ever heard of the CLAS standards, suggesting a low level of awareness of the standards. Further, only 18.7% reported that training in cultural competency is required for newly hired physicians who join their practice. There were no statistically significant differences between those who had been trained and those who had not in terms of self-reported consideration of race/ethnicity or culture in assessing patient needs, diagnosis, treatment and patient education (P>.05). CONCLUSIONS: Fewer than half of practicing physicians reported receiving cultural and linguistic competency training in medical school or residency. It is possible that cultural competence training is being seamlessly integrated into medical education.

The level of evidence of medical marijuana use for treating disabilities: a scoping review.

Purpose: Twenty-nine states have bypassed federal regulations by legalizing marijuana (MJ) either medicinally, recreationally or both. The FDA states that there is no empirical evidence that MJ is effective to treat these disorders. With over a billion individuals living with a disability across the globe, it is crucial to fully research the efficaciousness and safety of medical MJ to treat this population. The purpose to present the results of a scoping review of studies focused on the levels of evidence currently available on medical MJ's efficacy in treatment across a large range of disabilities.Methods: Databases were searched for research articles on the current level of evidence to support medical MJ use among people with disabilities.Results: Forty-one peer reviewed articles met the inclusion criteria. Articles focused on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, schizophrenia, spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis/movement disorders, fibromyalgia, epilepsy, with some that focused on multiple disabilities.Conclusions: The level of evidence for the use of medical MJ among people with disabilities varies greatly, and has a clear lack of methodologically sound studies. Overall, medical MJ does not improve the level of functioning, but it may improve the overall quality of life for people with disabilities.Implications for RehabilitationEpilepsy can be a disabling chronic disorder which not only impacts physically but can restricts quality of life.Quality of life is diminished even more with treatment resistant epilepsy.Chronic pain is the leading cause of disability and is the most common cause of long-term disability.There is sufficient evidence that medical marijuana is effective in treating epileptic seizures and chronic pain.Medical marijuana may improve the level of functioning and quality of life for individuals with certain disabilities.

Incorporating Inter-Professional Education into a Veterinary Medical Curriculum.

Inter-professional education (IPE) is identified as an important component of health profession training and is listed in the accreditation requirements for many fields, including veterinary medicine. The goals of IPE are to develop inter-professional skills and to improve patient-oriented care and community health outcomes. To meet these goals, IPE relies on enhanced teamwork, a high level of communication, mutual planning, collective decision making, and shared responsibilities. One Health initiatives have also become integral parts of core competencies for veterinary curricular development. While the overall objectives of an IPE program are similar to those of a One Health initiative, they are not identical. There are unique differences in expectations and outcomes for an IPE program. The purpose of this study was to explore veterinary medical students' perceptions of their interprofessional experiences following participation in a required IPE course that brought together beginning health profession students from the colleges of medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, nutrition, public health and health professions, and veterinary medicine. Using qualitative research methods, we found that there is powerful experiential learning that occurs for both the veterinary students and the other health profession students when they work together at the beginning of their curriculum as an inter-professional team.

Assessment and evaluation in interprofessional education: exploring the field.

BACKGROUND: The practice of interprofessional education (IPE) is expanding rapidly in the United States and globally. The publication of competencies from the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) was a significant step forward to recognize the importance of health professions collaboration and to guide institutions for educational program development. However, there remains substantial difficulty in implementation, as well as considerable variability in assessment of learners' interprofessional collaborative knowledge and skills and evaluation of IPE programs. METHODS: We conducted a multi-methods project which included 20 key informant interviews, a literature review, and a meeting of an expert panel. Our goals were 1) explore the current field of IPE, 2) identify and disseminate best practices to institutions wishing to implement/augment IPE assessment and evaluation processes, 3) uncover gaps in current IPE assessment and evaluation practices, and 4) recommend next steps for the field. RESULTS: A small and growing literature indicates evidence of the effectiveness of IPE. A diverse collection of methods and tools are used to assess and evaluate IPE learners and programs; these are often used without an explicit program-evaluation framework. CONCLUSIONS: For the field to advance and to align with the demands of changing clinical care systems, robust assessment and evaluation methods, standardized use of common tools, and longitudinal assessment from diverse data streams are needed for IPE.

Public health education at the University of Florida: synergism and educational innovation.

The College of Public Health and Health Professions at the University of Florida is composed of five public health departments and four clinical health professions departments, and the college is one of six that make up the university's Health Science Center. These organizational resources, along with the university's explicit emphasis on collaboration across professions, colleges, institutes, and centers and the strong leadership and full support of deans and other academic leaders, provide a strong foundation for educational innovations. Three key areas in which the college has built upon these opportunities are interprofessional education, development of One Health instructional programs, and application of cutting-edge technology to students' educational experiences. These innovations represent the types of creative approaches to preparing the 21st-century workforce that can be developed through collaboration among multiple disciplines in a major university.

Attaining interprofessional competencies through a student interprofessional fellowship program.

For students interested in enriching their interprofessional competencies beyond those required and offered by their academic programs, an elective interprofessional education fellowship can serve that need. We designed a fellowship for students linking a conceptual framework grounded in adult learning principles. During the fellowship, students progress through three levels of learning as they acquire, apply, and demonstrate interprofessional collaborative knowledge and skills; fellowship activities are self-directed. A content analysis of students' fellowship summary reports sought to determine the effectiveness of the fellowship as a learning experience to acquire interprofessional collaborative competences. Results indicated that students most consistently report competencies associated with acquisition of values and ethics for interprofessional practice, roles/responsibilities, and teams/teamwork; interprofessional communication was implied. All students expressed commitment to interprofessional collaborative behavior when in practice. Based on the results from this study, this fellowship structure may serve as a model for other institutions to adapt and implement for best practice and best fit.

Developing a comprehensive faculty development program to promote interprofessional education, practice and research at a free-standing academic health science center.

There is an on-going transformation in health professions education to prepare students to function as competent members of an interprofessional team in order to increase patient safety and improve patient care. Various methods of health education and practice directed toward students have been implemented, yet descriptions of faculty development initiatives designed to advance interprofessional education and practice are scarce. This article describes a faculty development program at the Medical University of South Carolina, USA, based on the conceptual framework of adult transformational learning theory. Three components comprise the faculty development program: an institute, fellowship and teaching series. Evaluations of the three components indicate that the faculty development program aided in the sustainability of the university's interprofessional program, and built capacity for improvement and growth in interprofessional endeavors.

Interprofessional service-learning in a community setting: findings from a pilot study.

Interprofessional education is becoming more popular in higher education and service-learning has been a successful method to facilitate experiences that foster teamwork between professions. This report shares the results from an interprofessional service-learning project (ISLP) targeting students across eight disciplines (physician assistant, medicine, pharmacy, dietetic internship, physical therapy, master in health administration, nursing and biomedical science). The project used an existing resource, the South Carolina Area Health Education Consortium (SC-AHEC), to coordinate student learning across multiple regions and an established health promotion program curriculum for student outreach content. Participating students (n = 149) were evaluated to determine how the activity affected student appreciation and knowledge of their own and other professions, their interaction with other professional students, and student teamwork skills. Students found the most value in learning with students from other professions as part of the activity with lesser value placed on students increasing their knowledge about their profession's role in interprofessional work.

Exploring interprofessional education in the family medicine clerkship: a CERA study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The need for interprofessional education (IPE) to improve teamwork skills has been recognized by several national organizations. The purpose of this study was to investigate IPE integration in family medicine clerkships and factors associated with IPE's success. METHODS: A survey of clerkship directors at US allopathic medical schools was conducted through the Council of Academic Famiily Medicine Educational Research Alliance (CERA). Respondents were asked (1) whether IPE was part of the curriculum, (2) the educational methods used, (3) which health professions students and faculty participated in IPE, (4) what outcomes were measured, (5) the types of faculty development provided, and (6) the barriers encountered when implementing IPE. RESULTS: The response rate was 66% (88/134), and 38% reported incorporating IPE into the clerkship with most offering IPE in clinical activities. A wide variety of health professions students and faculty participated in clerkship IPE activities. One third of the respondents offered faculty development. Most agreed that third party funding (85%), IPE team training (94%), clearly defined roles (94%), and dedicated time during clinical care for team meetings (93%) were vital for IPE to succeed. Many programs did not measure IPE-specific outcomes (49%). Eighty percent reported at least one barrier to implementing IPE. The most common barriers were scheduling conflicts (46%) and lack of IPE experience (40%). No one reported a lack of institutional support for IPE. CONCLUSIONS: Few clerkships offered IPE. However, family medicine is in a unique position to highlight the value of interprofessional teamwork for students and should recognize and promote IPE opportunities.

The status of interprofessional education and interprofessional prevention education in academic health centers: a national baseline study.

PURPOSE: Given the emphasis on prevention in U.S. health care reform efforts, the importance of interprofessional education (IPE) that prepares health professions students to be part of effective health care teams is greater than ever. This study examined the prevalence and nature of IPE and interprofessional (IP) prevention education in U.S. academic health centers. METHOD: The authors extracted a 10-item survey from the longer published IPE Assessment and Planning Instrument. In September 2010, they sent the survey to 346 health professions leaders in health sciences schools and colleges at 100 academic health centers. These institutions were identified via the online membership list of the Association of Academic Health Centers. The authors conducted descriptive statistical analysis and cross-tabulations. RESULTS: Surveys were completed by 127 contacts at 68 universities in 31 states and the District of Columbia. IPE was more prevalent than IP prevention education in all categories of measurement. Respondents affirmed existence of IPE in courses (85.0%) and in clinical rotations/internships (80.3%). The majority reported personnel with responsibility for IPE (68.5%) or prevention education (59.8%) at their institutional unit, and 59.8% reported an IPE office or center. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence that IPE and IP prevention education exist in academic health centers, but additional attention should be paid to the development of IP prevention education. Sample syllabi, job descriptions, and policies may be available to support adoption of IPE and IP prevention education. Further effort is needed to increase the integration of IP and prevention education into practice.