A newly formed university Center of Interprofessional Education: Programs and Lessons Learned

Interprofessional practice has been recognized as an important health care approach; thus, the need for interprofessional education. An Institute of Medicine report, Health Professions Education: A Bridge to Quality (2003) stated that "once in practice, health professionals are asked to work in interdisciplinary teams, often to support those with chronic conditions, yet they are not educated together or trained in team-based skills.” In response, a new, innovative Center for Interprofessional Education was implemented two years ago at a Northeastern United States health science university. This presentation will provide a brief overview of 1. the mission and composition of the center 2. input of steering committee composed of faculty, students, and hospital representatives 3. examples of programs implemented. One example of the center's interprofessional educational programs is the Health Mentor Program, a two-year required interprofessional team experience for first year medical, nursing, pharmacy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and couples and family therapy students. The program creates teams of 4-5 students from 3-4 disciplines, partnered with Health Mentors. Health Mentors are individuals with one or more chronic conditions who live in the community and volunteer their time to meet with the interprofessional team of students either in their home, on campus, or at a community site (such as a senior center). Teams and Health Mentors complete a series of activities with the goals of preparing students to 1) work in highly functioning teams and 2) develop an understanding of patients' perspectives of chronic illness care. Modules include: the patient/client as individual; obtaining an interdisciplinary health history; access to care; professionalism; medication usage; patient safety; and wellness planning. Outcome measures for the program are attitudes toward chronic illness care (Chronic Illness Survey; Diamond Perceptions of Health scale), attitudes toward interprofessional education (Interprofessional Education Perception Scale), readiness for interprofessional education (RIPLS scale), and nurse-physician collaboration (Jefferson Scale of Attitudes toward Nurse-Physician Collaboration). Qualitative evaluation has been completed on “how students perceived their health mentor as a teacher” and “perceptions of students on interprofessional teamwork”. An interprofessional team of nearly 30 faculty and students are implementing and evaluating the program. Other examples of center activities will be provided. Lessons learned will be presented along with recommendations for development of interprofessional educational activities for medical and other health professional students.