Use of 360-Degree Assessment During Interprofessional Simulation to Enhance Formative Feedback

Background: •Effective interprofessional teamwork is essential for quality patient care [1], and within-team feedback improves team performance [2]. •Learners trained to assess peers are more confident and skilled at evaluating others and better prepared to provide meaningful feedback to their colleagues when they enter the workforce [3,4]. •This is particularly important in interprofessional teams where tensions between professional groups can create unique challenges [5]

Is There a Relationship Between Profession and Assessment of Interprofessional Collaboration in IPE?

Purpose: Interprofessional education (IPE) seeks to train students to collaborate across professions, but assessing interprofessional competency is challenging (Blue, 2015). Because faculty variation may be one barrier, this study explores grading patterns to determine whether there is variation between faculty and whether professional differences impact this variation

Strength in Caring: An Interprofessional Innovation to Cultivate Organizational Wellness

Background. The impact of COVID-19 on the physical and mental health of individual providers and entire health care systems has had a devastating blow to already fragile networks.[1] It is imperative to identify strategies that heal, repair, and build capacity in health care providers and fix the system in which they practice. Building resilience through self-care is only a part of the solution.[2,3] Health care organizations are striving for solutions that target issues such as psychological safety, interprofessional teamwork, and wellness-centered leadership, which are more likely to reduce burnout than individualized self-care programs.[4,5] The purpose of the Strength in Caring Project (SCP) is to build engagement and promote departmental resilience and psychological safety among physicians and advanced practice providers (APPs) in the VCU Department of Surgery. The interprofessional project team includes 3 physicians, 3 nurse practitioners, 2 educational researchers, and a project coordinator with expertise in medical anthropology. This 3-year project began by collecting and analyzing data from the providers for customizing and implementing sustainable wellness initiatives. Innovative Practice. Funded by the Health Services Research Administration (HRSA), this project includes three interventions: (a) providing inclusive strengths-based leadership (ISBL) training to providers, (b) developing wellness ambassadors within the divisions, and (c) facilitating rapid cycle quality improvement (RCQI) projects focused on organizational wellness, with assistance from DNP students. A survey that includes measures assessing psychological safety [6], resilience [7], work environment [8], engagement, and intent to leave is being administered every six months to evaluate outcomes. Data were collected in early fall 2022 to measure baseline characteristics of the department before the first ISBL training. Follow-up meetings are being conducted with individual divisions within the department to share those results and discuss frustrations to address through RCQI projects, and wellness ambassadors are beginning their work. Results. After two months and multiple emails, 74 physicians and APPs (48%) completed the baseline survey. There were response similarities among providers across the department, but also nuances between divisions. 3 of the 11 divisions scored above the national benchmark for psychological safety, and 7 divisions scored above the benchmark on resilience. 61% of respondents expressed overall satisfaction with their job, but more than half (55%) describe themselves as burned out or having symptoms of burnout. A further 32% see themselves as under stress. The strongest drivers of burnout included frustration with the EMR (58%), chaotic work environment (53%), lack of control over their work (49%), frustration with the amount of work completed at home (48%), and not enough time to complete their work (42%). Conclusion. While many providers report high scores on the psychological characteristics that typically mitigate burnout, the number experiencing burnout is still substantial. The stressors most frequently cited indicate that poor systemic processes are the primary cause in most divisions, rather than team dynamics among caregivers. The project team is mindful of the need to develop strategies that can be tailored to each division. The baseline survey was intended to inform initial activities for the three interventions, but the project team struggled to engage effectively with busy clinicians across multiple divisions in a large department. The low response rate may reflect the multifaceted workplace demands on these providers and the organizational frustrations that impact their wellbeing. With multiple teams (the grant team, wellness ambassadors, DNP students, RCQI project teams, and an analysis team) working in tandem, meeting the project’s goals will require a commitment to honest communication, reflection, and quality improvement. This project provides an opportunity to learn how to work differently, which may be part of what it takes to strengthen our complex multi-team systems in healthcare

Interprofessional Education at VCU: Training Healthcare Students to be Collaborative Practitioners

Over the past five years, VCU has developed a comprehensive interprofessional education (IPE) curriculum with almost 2000 students from both the medical campus and the Monroe Park campus engaged in IPE activities annually. 90 faculty members are facilitating these learners in classrooms, clinical settings, and community practice sites. This presentation will describe the conceptual framework for VCU’s IPE curriculum, give an overview of the courses and activities, discuss evaluation methods and selected results, and present the challenges and opportunities for the future of IPE at VCU

The Impact of Service-Learning among Other Predictors for Persistence and Degree Completion of Undergraduate Students

College completion is an issue of great concern in the United States, where only 50% of students who start college as freshmen complete a bachelor\u27s degree at that institution within six years. Researchers have studied a variety of factors to understand their relationship to student persistence. Not surprisingly, student characteristics, particularly their academic background prior to entering college, have a tremendous influence on college success. Colleges and universities have little control over student characteristics unless they screen out lesser qualified students during the admissions process, but selectivity is contrary to the push for increased accessibility for under-served groups. As a result, institutions need to better understand the factors that they can control. High-impact educational practices have been shown to improve retention and persistence through increased student engagement. Service-learning, a pedagogical approach that blends meaningful community service and reflection with course content, is a practice that is increasing in popularity, and it has proven beneficial at increasing student learning and engagement. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether participation in service-learning has any influence in the likelihood of degree completion or time to degree and, secondarily, to compare different methods of analysis to determine whether use of more complex models provides better information or more accurate prediction. The population for this study was a large public urban research institution in the mid-Atlantic region, and the sample was the cohort of students who started as first-time, full-time, bachelor\u27s degree-seeking undergraduates in the fall of 2005. Data included demographic and academic characteristics upon matriculation, as well as financial need and aid, academic major, and progress indicators for each of the first six years of enrollment. Cumulative data were analyzed using logistic regression, and year-to-year data were analyzed using discrete-time survival analysis in a structural equation modeling (SEM) framework. Parameter estimates and odds ratios for the predictors in each model were compared. Some similarities were found in the variables that predict degree completion, but there were also some striking differences. The strongest predictors for degree completion were pre-college academic characteristics and strength of academic progress while in college (credits earned and GPA). When analyzed using logistic regression and cross-sectional data, service-learning participation was not a significant predictor for completion, but it did have an effect on completion time for those students who earned a degree within six years. When analyzed longitudinally using discrete-time survival analysis, however, service-learning participation is strongly predictive of degree completion, particularly when credits are earned in the third, fourth, and sixth years of enrollment. In the survival analysis model, service-learning credits earned were also more significant for predicting degree completion than other credits earned. In terms of data analysis, logistic regression was effective at predicting completion, but survival analysis seems to provide a more robust method for studying specific variables that may vary by time

GreenSTEM@VCU: An Innovative Program for Integrating Service-Learning into Middle School Science, Technology and Mathematics Instruction

GreenSTEM integrates science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education with a focus on energy and the environment using service-learning techniques for middle school science, mathematics and technology teachers

Engaging Teachers and Students in STEM Instruction through Service-Learning

GreenSTEM at VCU integrates science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education with a focus on energy and the environment using service-learning techniques for middle school science, mathematics and technology teachers

Exploring Predictors for Teamwork Performance in an Interprofessional Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Course for Early Learners

Background: This study evaluated predictors of team development and performance on a final project in a large Interprofessional Quality Improvement and Patient Safety course.Methods and findings: Predictors examined were prior interprofessional teamwork experience and collective orientation preferences for dominance and affiliation. TheTeam Development Measure assessed perceived level of team development at the end of the course. Structural equation modelling was used to test the relationships, and only dominance was related to team development. Team development was not related to performance on the final project.Conclusions: This study is the first to simultaneously assess predictors of team development and the relationship between team development and course performance in interprofessional education. Although findings were not conclusive, several avenues for future study are highlighted

Bridging the Gaps: Building a University Link Tank

This project proposed a University Link Tank as a mechanism by which to build bridges between employees via a network of small groups. Participation in the Link Tank would be voluntary and open to all VCU and Health System employees. The program would be modeled similarly to the Faculty Learning Community (FLC) program, which is administered by the Center for Teaching Excellence, but it would concentrate on issues that are not specifically related to teaching. Topics will be proposed annually. The program would also concentrate on effectively utilizing existing VCU resources to resolve issues