#15 Elevating and Promoting the Power of Interprofessional Teaching

August 23, 2022 | By Era Kryzhanovskaya

With Dr. Maria Wamsley

Listen as our esteemed guest Dr. Maria Wamsley @MariaWamsley discusses the tips and tricks of successful interprofessional teaching!  We talk through values and challenges of interprofessional teaching.  Dr Wamsley provides practical details for getting an interprofessional teaching experience off the ground or expanding it at your institution.

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Credits

• Hosts/Producer/Writer: Era Kryzhanovskaya MD / Molly Heublein MD
• Audio Editor:  Clair Morgan of Nodderly
• Show notes/Cover art/Infographics: Charlotte Chaiklin MD
• Guest: Maria Wamsley MD 

CME Partner: VCU Health CE

Show Segments

• Intro, disclaimer, guest bio
• Guest one-liner
• Guest book recommendation
• Guest area of growth 
• Guest best piece of advice 
• Clinical case 
• History of interprofessional education (IPE)/interprofessional education and collaborative practice (IPECP)
• Interprofessional Education Collaborative Core Competencies
• Benefits of interprofessional education 
• How to best approach interprofessional education 
• How to overcome barriers to interprofessional education 
• Examples of interprofessional education 
• Resources for faculty development 
• Dr. Wamsley’s dream interprofessional education experience 
• Take home points 
• Outro

Interprofessional Teaching Pearls

1. Interprofessional teaching requires meaningful interaction amongst learners and should not be taught in a didactics format.
2. Interprofessional teaching should focus around the four core competencies: values and ethics for interprofessional practice, interprofessional communication, roles and responsibilities, and teams and teamwork. 
3. To develop an interprofessional education curriculum, start small, find allies, and adapt curricula that have already been developed. 
4. Interprofessional education improves patient safety, improves students’ knowledge around collaborative care, and improves students’ skills and attitudes towards team based care.

Interprofessional Education Notes

The History of Interprofessional Education (IPE) or Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice (IPECP)

The World Health Organization states interprofessional education occurs when members of two or more professions come together to learn with, from, and about each other to improve collaboration skills and patient outcomes (World Health Organization).

You cannot have interprofessional education without collaborative practice.  Similarly, you cannot have collaborative practice without interprofessional education. The two are intertwined. 

Interprofessional education was previously termed interdisciplinary care.  In the 1960s and 1970s, interdisciplinary care was discussed as a way to address workforce issues or population health. 

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the modern movement of interprofessional education and collaborative practices emerged from a focus on patient safety.  This modern movement evolved as a way to improve collaboration skills and patient outcomes, particularly in regards to patient safety.  

In 2011, a group of leaders from different healthcare professions came together to establish collaborative care competencies that all healthcare professional learners should have called the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) Core Competencies (IPEC Core Competencies). 

IPEC Core Competencies

Core Competencies are divided into four different domains:

1. Values and ethics for interprofessional practice
   1. Mutual respect and shared values
2. Interprofessional communication
   1. Skillset to effectively communicate across professions
3. Roles and responsibilities 
   1. Not only knowing what your own role is but knowing the roles and responsibilities of other health professionals 
4. Teams and teamwork 
   1. Having some knowledge about the processes and development of teams

*There are multiple subdomains which can be accessed at: IPEC Core Competencies

Where to start with IPE

Dr. Wamsley’s advice for interprofessional curriculum development: 

• Determine learning objectives for the experience, specifically, the interprofessional learning objectives and how  they link to the IPEC core competencies.
• Start small. Enhance the interprofessional learning that is already happening, build off curriculum that has already been developed
• Utilize resources such as MedEdPortal Interprofessional Curriculum Repository and National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education (NEXUS) 

NEXUS can be helpful for learner assessment tools 

• Involve faculty from other healthcare professions 

Interprofessional education (IPE) is teaching with, from, and about. 

• Didactic strategies do not work well for IPE content. 
• There must be meaningful interaction amongst learners. 

Approaches for Successful Interprofessional Education 

• Small groups working together on an interactive case 
• Simulation
• In the clinical settings (for example, during interprofessional case conferences, interprofessional rounds, team meetings, etc.) 
• Give time for learner self-reflection (for example, what have you learned?)
• Give time for feedback between team members (van Diggel 2021)

How to Overcome Barriers to Interprofessional Education 

Logistics with scheduling all healthcare professions learners at the same time

• Involve your admin and the admin of other healthcare professions 

Finding the time in curriculum to prioritize IPE 

• Emphasize the accreditation requirement for interprofessional education 
• Focus on the IPEC core competencies 

Physical space in the clinical setting 

• Instead of expanding the learning group try to enhance the interprofessional education that is already occurring in your clinical space 

Faculty development to make familiar with content and concepts of IPE 

• See faculty development resources below 

Obtaining leadership buy in 

• Engage learners, find allies, and emphasize accreditation requirement for interprofessional education 

A Few Examples of Interprofessional Education

Students of multiple health professions (dentistry, pharmacy, medicine, physical therapy, occupational therapy, nursing, etc.) come together to form small groups 

• Focus on foundational skills and interprofessional collaboration (communication tools, roles, responsibilities, and scope of practice, conflict management, etc.)
• In facilitated small groups, learners utilize their newly obtained skills 

Interprofessional standardized patient exercises 

• Small groups of health professional students approach a simulated case
• All learners get feedback not only from the standardized patient but also from their fellow health professional students 

In the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth activities 

• Having groups of medical students, pharmacy students, etc. conducting joint telehealth visits with high risk patients (Bautista 2021)

Benefits of Interprofessional Education 

• Improves patient safety
• Improves students’ knowledge around collaborative care (Saxe 2017)
• Improves students’ skills and attitudes towards team based care (Ruebling, Irma, et al.) 
• Growing evidence that IPE can change behaviors of healthcare professionals 

Faculty Development Resources

• The National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education NEXUS Faculty Development 
• The Interprofessional Teaching Observation Program: A Faculty Development Workshop on Peer Feedback of Interprofessional Teaching 

Links

1. Dr. Maria Wamsley’s book recommendation: Hamnet by Maggie OFarrell
2. The World Health Organization framework for action on Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice: World Health Organization
3. Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) Core Competencies: IPEC Core Competencies
4. MedEdPortal Interprofessional Curriculum Repository 
5. National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education (NEXUS) 
6. NEXUS Faculty Development 
7. Dr. Maria Wamsley’s recently published faculty curriculum: The Interprofessional Teaching Observation Program: A Faculty Development Workshop on Peer Feedback of Interprofessional Teaching 

Goal

Listeners will explain the benefits of interprofessional education and ways to provide effective interprofessional teaching to improve the practice of healthcare professionals. 

Learning objectives

After listening to this episode listeners will…  

1. List the benefits of interprofessional education
2. Be familiar with the four core competencies of interprofessional education
3. Describe effective interprofessional teaching methods 
4. Recognize ways to overcome barriers to interprofessional education 

Disclosures

Dr. Maria Wamsley reports no relevant financial disclosures. The Curbsiders report no relevant financial disclosures. 

Citation

Wamsley M, Heublein M, Kryzhanovskaya E. “#15 Interprofessional Teaching.  The Curbsiders Teach Podcast. http://thecurbsiders.com/teach, August 23, 2022.