3-2-1: Implementing 3 IPE Programs in 2 years at 1 College of Nursing

Discussants will present specific information on  experiences with group formation, operationalization,  and evaluation strategies for their respective,  federally  funded  multiyear Interprofessional Education and Practice (IPE)  projects. Each program is briefly described below.   Interactive discussion with audience will comprise the majority of the session.

The InterProfessional Care at the Vine School Health Center (I.C.V.)grant was designed   to strengthen nursing’s capacity to advance the health of patients, families and communities in collaboration with professional educators and social workers through direct health care services and telehealth technologies. The interprofessional practice provides comprehensive healthcare services for underserved children in a nurse-managed, school-based health clinic.

The Bringing Interprofessional Teams Together through Technology to Create Solutions for Healthcare grant assembles students from advanced practice nursing (FNP), pharmacy, medicine, and industrial engineering in teams to learn to work collaboratively in simulated and patient care clinical situations.  Education is through web-based and face-to-face team interaction, simulations, and telehealth team-based delivery of care. This project provides students from the four professional groups the opportunity to use telehealth technology in the delivery of health care to underserved children in school-based clinics.

The Recovery-based Interprofessional Distance Education (RIDE)program integrates distance education and clinical simulation into interprofessional education for graduate students in mental health nursing, exercise science, nutrition, and pharmacy. Student teams use synchronous and asynchronous distance technology to learn IPE principles and recovery-based care for persons with multiple mental and physical chronic conditions. The capstone experience of IPE teams is providing care to such persons in a community mental health center.

Suggested Discussion Questions   

1. What are “lessons learned” in the first year of these and others IPE programs?
2. What   barriers to communication have arisen between the varying professional students? What    strategies have facilitated interprofessional communication?
3. Has distance learning   alleviated the   schedule differences and other course/clinical requirements of each professional group?
4. What are optimal evaluation methods for process and content outcomes of IPE?