Technological Literacy as a Framework for Health Professions Education in the Digital Era.

With increasing use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in health, and rapid technological changes, there is a pressing need to prepare current and future health professionals to use ICTs as an integral part of their practice. We propose the Technological Literacy Framework, which includes 3 interlinked elements-knowledge, capabilities, and critical thinking and decision making-as an overarching structure for organizing and designing competencies, learning objectives, and educational interventions for health professions education in the digital era. We provide examples of EHR and telehealth educational interventions and how they map to the framework.

Eight ways to get a grip on validity as a social imperative.

Validity as a social imperative foregrounds the social consequences of assessment and highlights the importance of building quality into the assessment development and monitoring processes. Validity as a social imperative is informed by current assessment trends such as programmatic-, longitudinal-, and rater-based assessment, and is one of the conceptualizations of validity currently at play in the Health Professions Education (HPE) literature. This Black Ice is intended to help readers to get a grip on how to embed principles of validity as a social imperative in the development and quality monitoring of an assessment. This piece draws on a program of work investigating validity as a social imperative, key HPE literature, and data generated through stakeholder interviews. We describe eight ways to implement validation practices that align with validity as a social imperative.

La validité en tant qu'impératif social met de l'avant les conséquences de l'évaluation des apprentissages sur la société et souligne l'importance d'intégrer la qualité dans le développement et le monitoring de l'évaluation des apprentissages. La validité en tant qu'impératif social est influencée par les tendances actuelles en matière d'évaluation, telles que l'évaluation programmatique, longitudinale et l'évaluation par des évaluateurs. La validité en tant qu'impératif social fait partie des conceptualisations actuellement présentes dans les écrits scientifiques dans le contexte de la pédagogie des sciences de la santé. Ce texte a pour but d'aider les lecteurs à comprendre comment intégrer les principes de validité en tant qu'impératif social dans le développement et le suivi de qualité d'une évaluation. Cet article s'appuie sur un programme de recherche qui examine la validité en tant qu'impératif social, sur les écrits scientifiques en pédagogie des sciences de la santé et des données provenant d'entrevues avec différentes parties prenantes. Nous décrivons huit façons de mettre en œuvre des pratiques de validation qui sont en accord avec la validité en tant qu'impératif social.

Improving selection procedures in health professions education from the applicant perspective: an interview study.

INTRODUCTION: Applicant perceptions of selection impact motivation and performance during selection, and student diversity. However, in-depth insight into which values underly these perceptions is lacking, creating challenges for aligning selection procedures with applicant perceptions. This qualitative interview study aimed to identify values applicants believe should underlie selection, and how, according to applicants, these values should be used to make specific improvements to selection procedures in undergraduate health professions education (HPE). METHODS: Thirty-one applicants to five undergraduate HPE programs in the Netherlands participated in semi-structured interviews using Appreciative Inquiry, an approach that focuses on what goes well to create vision for improvement, to guide the interviews. Transcriptions were analyzed using thematic analysis, adopting a constructivist approach. RESULTS: Applicants' values related to the aims of selection, the content of selection, and the treatment of applicants. Applicants believed that selection procedures should aim to identify students who best fit the training and profession, and generate diverse student populations to fulfill societal needs. According to applicants, the content of selection should be relevant for the curriculum and profession, assess a comprehensive set of attributes, be of high quality, allow applicants to show who they are, and be adapted to applicants' current developmental state. Regarding treatment, applicants believed that selection should be a two-way process that fosters reflection on study choice, be transparent about what applicants can expect, safeguard applicants' well-being, treat all applicants equally, and employ an equitable approach by taking personal circumstances into account. Applicants mentioned specific improvements regarding each value. DISCUSSION: Applicants' values offer novel insights into what they consider important preconditions for the design of selection procedures. Their suggested improvements can support selection committees in better meeting applicants' needs.

An Innovative Course on Involving Patients in Health Professions Education.

Background & Need for Innovation: Patients can be actively involved in various aspects of health professions education (HPE). However, learners in HPE graduate programs have minimal opportunities to learn how to involve patients in HPE. Steps Taken for Development and Implementation of Innovation: We designed, implemented, and evaluated a 12-week asynchronous, online graduate course that provides learners such opportunities. We established an advisory committee of patients, clinician-educators, and professors to guide course development. Using Thomas et al.'s framework, we established the general and targeted need for the course, identified the learning outcomes, determined the learning activities, and implemented and evaluated the course. It is offered within the asynchronous, online Diploma and Master in HPE at the University of Ottawa, Canada. Evaluation of Innovation: Forty learners participated in the course between 2020 and 2022. Using a survey with closed- and open-ended items, learners reported satisfaction with all course components, and they valued the patient narrative videos created for the course. After course completion, learners reported that the course is relevant to their professional practice. They also reported confidence in their abilities to actively involve patients in HPE. Based on the culminating assignment assessment data, learners attained course expectations. Critical Reflection: Although patients who participated in the narrative videos represented diverse age ranges, health conditions, and experiences in HPE, they were often Caucasian, educated, and from a higher socio-economic background. Also, the level of engagement between patients and learners in the course was limited. We are committed to improving our own patient involvement efforts.

Design and development of an arena blended connected learning model for faculty development in health professions education: A step forward.

Current medical education and clinical practice has led to a need for advanced faculty development for medical teachers to effectively play the role of educators, researchers and administrators. There is large variability in the teaching programmes across countries, which range from a one-time activity to regularly scheduled workshops and seminars, to a highly advanced course spanning a few months to a year. Several healthcare institutes around the world offer faculty training programmes in health professions education, where the curriculum varies in design as they are developed and implemented by their own institutional body or education unit. Following a discussion of arena blended connected (ABC) learning design during a faculty training programme (Postgraduate Diploma in Health Professions Education) and the subsequent move towards an online approach to education due to the pandemic in 2019, the advisory faculty and students started to envision designing the already existing Postgraduate Diploma in Health Professions Education curriculum along the ABC model favouring blended and outcome-based education. Criteria were set for each topic with clearly defined learning levels to be implemented and the frequency of implementation. We describe the design and development of a curriculum for faculty development of health professions education using the ABC model.

The Interprofessional Standardized Patient Experience: An Effective Interprofessional Education Activity for Prelicensure Health Professional Students.

Introduction: For future success in the modern health care environment, health professions students require effective interprofessional education experiences to develop their perceptions of other professionals on the health care team. The Interprofessional Standardized Patient Experience (ISPE) is an interprofessional education activity for prelicensure health professional students in nursing, pharmacy, physical therapy, medicine, social work, and occupational therapy. Methods: The ISPE involved collaboration among students to conduct a subjective interview. Students from six health care professions individually interviewed a simulated patient while being observed by students from other professions. A structured faculty-guided debriefing session followed the comprehensive interview process. Students completed a voluntary pre- and post-ISPE survey with interprofessional questions and feedback on the activity. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze individual responses. Differences in student opinions by student profession and by the number of professions present were examined using chi-square tests. Results: Over 4 consecutive academic years, 1,265 students completed the ISPE, and 1,028 completed the pre- and post-ISPE surveys. Analysis of the survey responses indicated that the ISPE enhanced student awareness of the functions of an interprofessional team and increased student knowledge of the roles of different health care professions. Students rated the ISPE as a valuable experience. Differences were noted in some of the measures by profession and group size. Discussion: A single ISPE had a significant impact on prelicensure students' perceptions. The ISPE is a novel and effective approach to interprofessional education that students appreciate.

Integrating virtual patients into undergraduate health professions curricula: a framework synthesis of stakeholders' opinions based on a systematic literature review.

BACKGROUND: Virtual patients (VPs) are widely used in health professions education. When they are well integrated into curricula, they are considered to be more effective than loosely coupled add-ons. However, it is unclear what constitutes their successful integration. The aim of this study was to identify and synthesise the themes found in the literature that stakeholders perceive as important for successful implementation of VPs in curricula. METHODS: We searched five databases from 2000 to September 25, 2023. We included qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods and descriptive case studies that defined, identified, explored, or evaluated a set of factors that, in the perception of students, teachers, course directors and researchers, were crucial for VP implementation. We excluded effectiveness studies that did not consider implementation characteristics, and studies that focused on VP design factors. We included English-language full-text reports and excluded conference abstracts, short opinion papers and editorials. Synthesis of results was performed using the framework synthesis method with Kern's six-step model as the initial framework. We appraised the quality of the studies using the QuADS tool. RESULTS: Our search yielded a total of 4808 items, from which 21 studies met the inclusion criteria. We identified 14 themes that formed an integration framework. The themes were: goal in the curriculum; phase of the curriculum when to implement VPs; effective use of resources; VP alignment with curricular learning objectives; prioritisation of use; relation to other learning modalities; learning activities around VPs; time allocation; group setting; presence mode; VPs orientation for students and faculty; technical infrastructure; quality assurance, maintenance, and sustainability; assessment of VP learning outcomes and learning analytics. We investigated the occurrence of themes across studies to demonstrate the relevance of the framework. The quality of the studies did not influence the coverage of the themes. CONCLUSIONS: The resulting framework can be used to structure plans and discussions around implementation of VPs in curricula. It has already been used to organise the curriculum implementation guidelines of a European project. We expect it will direct further research to deepen our knowledge on individual integration themes.

Hispanic-Serving Institutions Contributing to the Training and Diversity of the Public Health and Health Care Workforce.

The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), a Hispanic Serving and Carnegie R1 institution, serves as a pathway for socioeconomically diverse Hispanic/Latino (H/L) health profession students via equal-access strategies. The Center for Institutional Evaluation, Research, and Planning data illustrates UTEP's success in graduating H/L health professionals (i.e., allied health, nursing, pharmacy, and psychology) students between 2014 and 2023. Nearly 90% of these graduates are employed in Texas one year after graduation, and 85% remain employed after 10 years. (Am J Public Health. 2024;114(S6):S472-S477. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2024.307655) [Formula: see text].

The impact of mobile health interventions on service users' health outcomes and the role of health professions: a systematic review of systematic reviews-protocol.

BACKGROUND: Mobile health tools have gained prominence in global health care in recent years. Mobile health (mHealth) interventions have demonstrated their impact on managing healthcare service users' health. A pilot search revealed many systematic reviews on the effectiveness of mobile health tools on service users' health outcomes. However, how the role of healthcare professionals in promoting the adoption of mobile health may lead to improved outcomes needs to be clarified. Therefore, this systematic review aims to synthesise existing systematic reviews that examine both the impact of mobile health interventions on service users' outcomes and the role of healthcare professionals in facilitating the adoption of mobile health solutions. METHODS: Five electronic databases will be searched: EMBASE, CINHAL Plus, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library for systematic reviews exploring the impact of mobile health interventions on service users' outcomes and the role of healthcare professionals in facilitating the adoption of mobile health solutions. Systematic reviews published in English dated from January 2015 to June 2024 will be included. Screening and selection of the reviews against inclusion and exclusion criteria will be performed by three independent reviewers, as well as data extraction and quality assessment. DISCUSSION: Current systematic reviews in mHealth have primarily focused on assessing the effectiveness of mHealth interventions for managing a range of conditions. While these reviews provide valuable input into the outcomes for mHealth, more is needed to know about the impact of the involvement of health professions on service users' outcomes when adopting mHealth. This systematic review of systematic reviews aims to bridge this critical gap in the literature by critically appraising and synthesising the evidence of mHealth interventions' impact on service user outcomes and the level of involvement of health professionals. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD 42023414435.

Using Photovoice to Stimulate Reflection and Collaboration in Health Professions Students Through an Interprofessional Education Activity.

OBJECTIVE: Today's healthcare system requires interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) to improve health outcomes. IPCP often begins with interprofessional education (IPE), which should stimulate meaningful idea exchange. This study's purpose was to assess the impact of a photovoice-based IPE experience on the attitudes and beliefs of students in two health professions programs. METHODS: Forty-two Doctor of Physical Therapy students and 13 Radiation Therapy students created photovoice slides representing the most significant "thing" in their professional education. Students discussed their slides in small groups followed by a large-group discussion. A pretest-posttest survey containing researcher-generated questions and the Student Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education-Revised (SPICE-R2) and a post-activity evaluation were administered. RESULTS: Forty-two students completed the pretest survey; 35 completed the posttest survey. A statistically significant difference was found between pretest (M=4.07, SD=0.91) and posttest (M=4.45, SD=0.70) SPICE-R2 total scores, t(928)=7.22, p<0.001. Statistically significant differences were found for all SPICE-R2 factor scores. Thematic analysis revealed three themes: 1) students learned about the other profession, 2) the IPE experience was meaningful, and 3) the IPE experience could be improved. CONCLUSIONS: The photovoice IPE experience stimulated student reflection, interprofessional collaboration, and new perceptions about the other health profession. Future studies should focus on similar activities offered earlier in the education program.

Tools for measuring curriculum integration in health professions' education: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Curriculum integration is an important educational concept widely implemented by various educational institutions, particularly within the healthcare field. Its significance lies in enhancing the preparation of future healthcare professionals. The assessment of these integrated curricula is imperative to guarantee their effectiveness. Consequently, the aim of this systematic review is to delve into existing literature, with the goal of identifying instruments designed to assess the extent of curriculum integration in health professions' education. METHODS: A comprehensive search was conducted to identify peer-reviewed papers and grey literature describing the development, validation, or use of instruments measuring the degree of integration in a curriculum. Eight databases were searched: PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, CINAHL Ultimate, Web of Science, Cochrane, ProQuest Central and EMBASE. Grey literature was also included. Titles, abstracts, and full text screening was conducted. Data extraction was done using a data extraction tool developed by our research team. RESULTS: The search resulted in the identification of 2094 references. After the removal of duplicates and title and abstract screening, 16 articles were deemed suitable for inclusion in this systematic review. Twenty-two instruments were extracted from these articles. The identified instruments assessed either integration attributes, perceptions about the integrated curriculum characteristics, process and outcomes, or curriculum integration level. Two of the instruments were focused on assessing horizontal integration (Basic Science Curriculum Assessment Instrument and the integration characteristic tool). In addition, one instrument was developed to assess integration within a single session only, while other instruments assessed curriculum integration level. Two of the integration instruments (The Session Integration Tool and Integration Ladder Questionnaire) provided scales for calculating integration levels. Validation of the integration assessment instruments was infrequent, with only 9 of 22 instruments validated for their psychometric properties. CONCLUSION: Our findings reveal the existence of diverse instruments designed to assess the extent of curriculum integration within health professions' curricula. The majority of identified instruments were focused on participants' perceptions towards the attributes of the integrated curriculum, and a significant number of these tools lacked validation.

Who should proof my paper?

This column is intended to address the kinds of knotty problems and dilemmas with which many scholars grapple in studying health professions education. In this article, the authors address the challenges in proofreading a manuscript. Emerging researchers might think that someone in the production team will catch any errors. This may not always be the case. We emphasize the importance of guiding mentees to take the process of preparing a manuscript for submission seriously.

Teaching global interdependence to health professions students during the Anthropocene epoch: Findings from documentary analysis of an interprofessional education course.

AIM(S): To examine the effects of new course material that incorporated the Anthropocene and The Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) 'Climate Effects on Health' framework into an IPE course to enhance students' understanding global interdependence. BACKGROUND: Teaching global interdependence with a suitable framework and relevant content in an introductory Interprofessional Education course in undergraduate programs is challenging when these early learners who do not have significant clinical experience. Therefore, it is necessary to adapt these courses to provide a framework that all students can relate to regardless of previous experience. DESIGN: The design for this study was qualitative document analysis. METHOD: The required introductory IPE course was for students on the programs offered by the College of Health Sciences and the School of Nursing. Students (n = 142) from seven health professions programs, including athletic training (n=9), nursing (n=70), nutrition and dietetics (n=8), occupational therapy (n=15), physical therapy (n=31), radiation therapy (n=2) and magnetic resonance imaging and pre-professional students from other majors (n=5) were enrolled in this IPE course. The study used data derived from the final reflections submitted by the students. The CQI analysis focused on students enrolled in a dedicated interprofessional course related to health professions. RESULTS: Ways interprofessional teams can address global challenges like the Anthropocene, climate-related illnesses and severe weather events were revealed in student responses. Three themes that emerged from the student responses included: public health collaborations, holistic health promotion and policy advocacy. CONCLUSION: Incorporating the concept of Anthropocene and the 'Climate Effects on Health' framework into an IPE course can be a promising approach to shaping students' perception and enhancing their knowledge about global interdependence. By doing so, students can gain a deeper understanding of how human activities have an impact on the climate and ecology of the planet and how severe weather can lead to various health problems.

Solidifying the minority high school student pathway: evidence from the health professions recruitment and exposure program.

Purpose: The objective of this report is to provide longitudinal insights on the impact of a health professions exposure program for high school students of underrepresented backgrounds in medicine. Context: Medical students at the University of Chicago reviewed data from their chapter of the Health Profession Recruitment and Exposure Program (HPREP) from 2016-2021 to discover trends in enrollment. This data is documented in the context of the program's mission to increase awareness of health disparities, the success of prominent alumni, and recent community efforts post-COVID-19 pandemic. Findings: Two hundred and ninety-nine high school students participated in the University of Chicago HPREP program between 2016 and 2021. Participants ranged in age from 12 to 18 years (mean = 16, SD = 1) and 74% (n = 222) were female students. Of 252 respondents, 58% (n = 147) identified as Black or African American, 31% (n = 77) identified as Latinx or of Hispanic origin, and 10% (n = 24) identified as another race or as bi-racial. Ten or fewer black male students participated in the program every year, including the 2020-2021 year in which 61 students participated. Conclusions: HPREP has played an important role in shaping the face of health care, especially in Chicago. The data suggests significant increases in the number of underrepresented minority women becoming physicians and serving Chicago communities in the next decade. Pathway programs for underrepresented students in medicine should be strategic in recruiting and educating future health professionals based on future workforce needs.

Cost identification in health professions education: A scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Resource scarcity in health professions education (HPE) demands rigorous consideration of costs. Yet, thus far, we have been unable to completely and consistently identify the costs of HPE. To address this knowledge gap and enable use of economic evidence in decision making, a detailed overview of all existing costs and approaches to cost identification in HPE is needed. OBJECTIVES: This review summarises the diversity of costs, cost perspectives and cost identification methods used in economic research of HPE to answer the following questions: which educational topics, costs, cost perspectives and cost identification methods are being investigated in HPE literature? METHODS: This investigation followed the Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines for scoping reviews. PubMed, ERIC, CINAHL and PsycINFO were iteratively searched for English language publications between 2012 and 2022 that reported costs of HPE. Data was extracted for study characteristics, educational context and economic methodology. RESULTS: A total of 136 articles of original research on the costs of educating all major licence healthcare professionals were included. A diffuse interest in costs is reflected in publications from 93 distinct journals and by the diversity of educational topics and cost types explored. However, the majority of investigations failed to define the cost perspective (86, 63%) and cost identification methods (117, 86%) and did not demonstrate common reporting structure or cost terminology, all of which contribute to persistent inconsistencies in cost identification. CONCLUSION: The source of disharmonious cost identification in HPE is fuelled by diverse interests and divergent concepts of costs and costing methodology. Left in its current state, disharmonious cost identification will continue to limit transparency, comparison and synthesis of evidence, hamper objectivity in implementation and policy decisions and impede the efficient and sustainable allocation of resources. A research agenda must be developed, prioritised, and validated by the broader community to develop a theoretical framework for HPE cost research, define stakeholders, elicit values and preferences and chart a path toward harmonised costing.

Measuring sociocultural engagement of health professions education students: a psychometric study.

BACKGROUND: Sociocultural engagement of students refers to broadening viewpoints and providing awareness of, and respect for, diverse backgrounds and perspectives. However, there are no existing validated instruments in the literature for measuring sociocultural engagement of health professions education (HPE) students. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop and validate a questionnaire designed to assess sociocultural engagement among HPE students. METHODS: The study included undergraduate HPE students (n = 683) at Gulf Medical University. The initial version of the sociocultural engagement of students' questionnaire (SESQ) was developed after extensive literature review and guided by the Global Learning Qualifications Framework. We then tested the content validity of the questionnaire by using focus group discussion with subject experts (n = 16) and pilot testing with students (n = 20). We distributed the content-validated version of the SESQ (16 items) to undergraduate students in six HPE colleges. To examine the construct validity and construct reliability of the questionnaire, we conducted exploratory factor analysis, followed by confirmatory factor analysis. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis supported the two-factor structure which consists of 13 items with good fitness indices (χ2 = 214.35, df = 61, χ 2/df = 3.51, CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.06, SRMR = 0.025, and AIC = 208.00). The two factors were sociocultural interactions (8 items) and sociocultural adaptation (5 items). The construct reliability of the total questionnaire is 0.97 and the two factors were 0.93 and 0.92 for sociocultural interactions and sociocultural adaptation, respectively. In addition, there were significant weak correlations between both factors of sociocultural engagement scores and student satisfaction with the university experience (r = .19 for each, P = .01). CONCLUSIONS: The sociocultural engagement of students' questionnaire exhibits good evidence of construct validity and reliability. Further studies will be required to test the validity of this questionnaire in other contexts.