Browsing by Subject "IPE"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Dentists as Primary Care Providers: Expert Opinion on Predoctoral Competencies
    (Frontiers Media, 2021) Gordon, Sara C.; Kaste, Linda M.; Mouradian, Wendy E.; Beemsterboer, Phyllis L.; Berg, Joel H.; Murdoch-Kinch, Carol Anne; Oral Pathology, Medicine and Radiology, School of Dentistry
    Dentistry and medicine traditionally practice as separate professions despite sharing goals for optimal patient health. Many US residents experience both poor oral and general health, with difficulty accessing care. More efficient collaboration between these professions could enhance health. The COVID-19 pandemic disclosed further disparities while underscoring concerns that physician supply is inadequate for population needs. Hence, enhancing healthcare provider education to better meet the public's health needs is critical. The proposed titles “Oral Physician” or “Oral Health Primary Care Provider” (OP-PCP) acknowledge dentist's capacity to diagnose and manage diseases of the orofacial complex and provide some basic primary healthcare. The US Surgeon General's National Prevention Council and others recommend such models. Medical and dental education already overlap considerably, thus it is plausible that dental graduates could be trained as OP-PCPs to provide primary healthcare such as basic screening and preventive services within existing dental education standards. In 2018, 23 dental and medical educators participated in an expert-opinion elicitation process to review educational competencies for this model. They demonstrated consensus on educational expansion and agreed that the proposed OP-PCP model could work within existing US Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) standards for predoctoral education. However, there were broader opinions on scope of practice details. Existing CODA standards could allow interested dental programs to educate OP-PCPs as a highly-skilled workforce assisting with care of medically-complex patients and to helping to reduce health disparities. Next steps include broader stakeholder discussion of OC-PCP competencies and applied studies including patient outcome assessments.
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    Fostering Interprofessional Education During Required Clerkships for Medical Students Across Regional Campuses
    (Journal of Regional Medical Campuses, 0024-12-15) Freed, Stephanie; Birnbaum, Deborah R.; Schwartz, Jennifer E.; Ko, Paul; Christman, Megan; Wallach, Paul M.
    It remains complex and challenging to deliver interprofessional education at medical schools with geographically distributed campuses. Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) expanded its interprofessional education directly into clinical training by implementing a simple exercise in required clerkships on all nine of its campuses and with various health system partners that achieves the goals of interprofessional education and in which students find value. Methods Between the academic years 2022-2023 and 2023-2024, IUSM medical students on every campus and across health systems, interviewed and reflected on the role of one healthcare professional involved in the care of a patient during each required clinical rotation. They interviewed different healthcare professionals and/or healthcare professions students to gain broad exposure and perspectives. Results All IUSM students on all its campuses interacted with a variety of healthcare professionals during their 3rd and 4th year clinical rotations statewide (n=6357 encounters). Across all campuses, 88% of interactions occurred with healthcare professionals rather than healthcare professions students. Statewide, between 84% and 95% of students reported that they ‘Strongly Agreed/Agreed’ that the experience contributed to the development of their interprofessional collaboration skills and knowledge, and that they found the assignment valuable. Conclusion Our interprofessional assignment offers medical schools with multiple campuses a promising solution to the challenges of delivering high-quality, and meaningful interprofessional education. It requires minimal to no resources, ensures comparability, and helps prepare students for real-world teamwork.
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    Health Sciences Librarians’ Perceptions of Interprofessional Education & Collaboration
    (2019-05-05) Hinrichs, Rachel J.; Bakker, Caitlin J.; Brigham, Tara J.; Stevens, Gregg A.; Alpi, Kristine M.; Lyons, A
    Objective: Librarians have a unique perspective on the value of working with other health professions. We sought to learn more about health sciences librarians' experiences with interprofessional activities and to assess their perceptions of interprofessional education (IPE) using a standard measure, the Interprofessional Education Perception Scale (IEPS). Methods: We used a cross-sectional survey design to assess librarians’ perceptions toward IPE, and to gather information on librarian participation in interprofessional activities. The survey consisted of a demographics section; the IEPS, an instrument developed to assess perceived attitudes about interdisciplinary collaboration for one’s own profession; and questions about the librarian’s prior and current experiences with IPE. It was sent via email lists to the MLA Interprofessional Education Special Interest Group (IPE-SIG), and the Research Section (RS), as a comparison group. After overlap between groups was addressed, mean IEPS scores between populations were compared to explore differences in attitudes and perceptions. Other variables of interest included years of experience as a librarian, previous career as a health professional, and experience teaching or supporting interprofessional education. We also compared librarians’ IEPS scores with those of health professional students published previously. Results: Librarians’ scores on the IEPS indicated highly positive perceptions towards IPE. There were no statistically significant differences between the IPE-SIG and RS groups (p=0.59), years of experience as a librarian (p=0.82), previous career as a health professional (p=0.91), or experience supporting IPE (p=0.16). Librarians’ mean IEPS score (262.9) was slightly less than the mean score of all health profession students (265.9) from a prior study by Hawk, but this difference was not statistically significant (p=0.43). Themes identified from two open-ended questions included librarian involvement in teaching and facilitating required learning activities for health professions students, committee involvement, and non-curricular activities such as Grand Rounds and book clubs. Five respondents addressed impact of their activities. Less frequent themes included perceiving respect for librarians as part of IPE, feeling undervalued, and desiring more involvement. Conclusion: This study provides the first data for the IEPS with health sciences librarians. The health sciences librarians who participated in this research report highly positive attitudes towards IPE, in line with the majority of other health professionals studied previously. Years of experience, previous health professional careers, and experience supporting IPE as a librarian had little bearing on the responses to the survey. This suggests that health sciences librarians have positive attitudes towards IPE, regardless of whether they directly support IPE programs.
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    Initial Efforts to Manage IPE during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Reports from the Big Ten Academic Alliance
    (NSUWorks, 2022) Smith, Laura J.; Romito, Laura; Congdon, Heather B.; Ascione, Frank J.; Fitzgerald, Mark; Karpa, Kelly; Pfiefle, Andrea; Sick, Brian; Khalili, Hossein; Biomedical Sciences and Comprehensive Care, School of Dentistry
    Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic required higher education institutions to quickly transition to a virtual platform. This was challenging for those involved in interprofessional education (IPE), given the goal that students from two or more professions learn about, from, and with one another. The Big Ten IPE Alliance is a subgroup of the larger Big Ten Academic Alliance. The purpose of this paper is to share the collective experiences of multiple large, research intensive universities in addressing the challenge of implementing IPE programs under the conditions established by the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: To better understand how the Big Ten schools dealt with the transition to virtual learning for didactic and clinical IPE given the COVID-19 pandemic, a subset of representatives from the Big Ten IPE Alliance met to discuss best practices for virtual learning in the IPE realm. Each participating university completed an electronic 14 question survey related to their IPE curriculum during the COVID-19 pandemic from March 2020 thru August 2020 and the responses were analyzed. Results: Four categories were identified as needing to be addressed to develop and implement successful interprofessional didactic and clinical experiences. The categories identified included content/assessment, virtual technologies, faculty and facilitators, and learners. Conclusions/Recommendations: Consider including authentic and innovative mechanisms to deliver IPE experiences that meet the learning needs and accreditation requirements. Interinstitutional collaborations such as within the Big Ten IPE Alliance can be beneficial in assessing current and future best practices in IPE.
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    Integrating an interprofessional educational exercise into required medical student clerkships - a quantitative analysis
    (Springer Nature, 2025-02-01) Schwartz, Jennifer E.; Ko, Paul; Freed, Stephanie; Safdar, Neelum; Christman, Megan; Page, Renee; Birnbaum, Deborah R.; Wallach, Paul M.; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Purpose: Medical students are integrated into an interprofessional team to help them learn how to provide effective, patient-centered care. Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) introduced a unique, easy-to-implement interprofessional exercise into each clerkship to improve students' understanding of each professional's contribution to patient care. Methods: Between 2022 and 2023, IUSM medical students interviewed a variety of healthcare professionals engaged in the care of mutual patients using a template of questions; they wrote a brief report and evaluated the experience. Students interviewed a different professional in each clerkship to broaden their exposure. Results: 3088 encounters occurred, 68% at the Indianapolis campus and 32% at regional campuses. More than 82% of students agreed or strongly agreed to each of the following prompts regarding the exercise: aided their understanding of the benefits of an interprofessional team to patient care, better understood when participation of the specific healthcare professional would benefit their patient, the experience contributed to their understanding of the role of that profession within the healthcare team, their confidence in engaging other healthcare professionals on the health care team improved, and the experience aided in understanding of their own role as a member of the health care team. Conclusion: This exercise was easy to implement across a multi-campus system and improved student comprehension of the interprofessional team and indications for their engagement in patient care.
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    Integrating an interprofessional educational exercise into required medical student clerkships – a quantitative analysis
    (BMC Medical Education, 0025-02-01) Schwartz, Jennifer E.; Ko, Paul; Freed, Stephanie; Safdar, Neelum; Christman, Megan; Page, Renee; Birnbaum, Deborah R.; Wallach, Paul M.
    Purpose: Medical students are integrated into an interprofessional team to help them learn how to provide effective, patient-centered care. Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) introduced a unique, easy-to-implement interprofessional exercise into each clerkship to improve students’ understanding of each professional’s contribution to patient care. Methods: Between 2022 and 2023, IUSM medical students interviewed a variety of healthcare professionals engaged in the care of mutual patients using a template of questions; they wrote a brief report and evaluated the experience. Students interviewed a different professional in each clerkship to broaden their exposure. Results: 3088 encounters occurred, 68% at the Indianapolis campus and 32% at regional campuses. More than 82% of students agreed or strongly agreed to each of the following prompts regarding the exercise: aided their understanding of the benefits of an interprofessional team to patient care, better understood when participation of the specific healthcare professional would benefit their patient, the experience contributed to their understanding of the role of that profession within the healthcare team, their confidence in engaging other healthcare professionals on the health care team improved, and the experience aided in understanding of their own role as a member of the health care team. Conclusion: This exercise was easy to implement across a multi-campus system and improved student comprehension of the interprofessional team and indications for their engagement in patient care.