Using a research-informed interprofessional curriculum framework to guide reflection and future planning of Interprofessional Education in a Multi-site Context

Abstract Background: Over the past two years health educators in Australia have benefited from funding made available from national organizations such as the Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT) and Health Workforce Australia (HWA). Funded research has been conducted into educational activities across the country that aim to promote integrated and sustainable interprofessional learning. Methods and Findings: A collaboration between multiple stakeholders led to the establishment of a consortium of nine universities and interprofessional organizations. This collaboration resulted in a series of research studies and the development of a conceptual framework to guide the planning and review of interprofessional health curricula. A case study of the development of a suite of health education programs at a regional university in Australia is used to demonstrate how the framework can be used to guide curricular reflection and to plan for the future. Shedding a light on interprofessional health education activities across multiple sites provides a rich picture of current practices and future trends. Commonalities, gaps, and challenges become much more obvious and allow for the development of shared opportunities and solutions. Conclusions: The production of a shared conceptual framework to facilitate interprofessional curriculum development provides valuable strategies for curricular reflection, review, and forward planning.The authors acknowledge the contribution of the Interprofessional Curriculum Renewal Consortium, Australia (2014)

The Reading and Writing Connection: Merging Two Reciprocal Content Areas

The purpose of this article is make connections between two content areas, reading and writing, which have traditionally been separated and consider the relationship between their theoretical underpinnings. Based on their reciprocal nature, the authors posit that students could greatly benefit by reading and writing being taught simultaneously. Relying on this premise, this article provides the reader with three practical strategies that could be applied in the literacy classroom to intertwine reading and writing. These practical strategies include: classroom blogs, graphic depictions, and pen pal responses to literature

Interprofessional Scenario-Based Learning for New Graduates in a Regional Setting: A Pilot Study

Introduction: Globally there is an increased emphasis on the provision of high quality healthcare and improved productivity under mounting financial constraints. Interprofessional collaboration and practice are considered crucial in promoting teamwork and optimising patient outcomes. However, there is a lack of structured, evaluated interprofessional learning opportunities for graduates in regional and rural health services in Australia. This pilot study reports on a novel interprofessional new graduate learning program that was developed and implemented to address the lack of structured post-qualification interprofessional learning opportunities in the Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service. Methods: Twenty-one participants enrolled in the six-month program, which consisted of six ninety-minute sessions. A mixed method exploratory design was used to collect data using the Interprofessional Socialization and Valuing Scale before and after the program, and a reflective summary at program completion. Results: Results indicated that participation in the program had a positive effect on participants’ attitudes, beliefs and behaviours regarding interprofessional practice as measured on the Interprofessional Socialization and Valuing Scale. Various themes about the usefulness of the program to participants were elicited from the reflective summary data. These included enhanced understanding of interprofessional practice, increased confidence in own professional role, improved understanding of the roles of other professions, increased collaboration with others, improved patient outcomes and improved networking with colleagues. Conclusions: It was concluded that the new graduate interprofessional learning program was a feasible and effective way to facilitate interprofessional learning among health graduates in a regional health service

Interprofessional competencies: the poor cousin to clinical skills?

The purpose of this paper is to clarify what work-based IPE is, challenge some common misconceptions about its values in clinical settings and highlight tools that will assist with its implementation in such settings.N/

Whose Business is Your Pancreas?: Potential Privacy Problems in New York City\u27s Mandatory Diabetes Registry (with N. Gingo et al.)

New York City authorities in 2006 formulated a policy requiring that medical data from all diabetics in the City be stored in a centralized registry. This diabetic registry is the first in the nation to require collection of personal testing data for the purpose of monitoring treatments for a noninfectious disease. The registry represents an important step on the path toward better understanding and managing of the disease. Nonetheless, establishment of the registry threatens privacy in a number of ways. Many individuals are open about their diabetes, but others prefer to keep that information to themselves, whether because of concerns for discrimination in the workplace or for ramifications in custody disputes. Although New York City’s regulation includes a confidentiality provision, privately identifiable information may be divulged through the notification process set up by the City, under which both physicians and patients are notified when their hemoglobin tests are dangerously high; through subpoenas in criminal and family court actions, and through use of the information by public health researchers to conduct epidemiological research. Regulators have already indicated that, despite the confidentiality provision, they intend to use the registry to conduct public health research that can only be attained by combining registry information with other statistics about the individuals covered. Moreover, there is no confidentiality provision at all for physicians, and operation of the registry may intrude upon the sanctity of the physician/patient relationship by providing physicians with troubling incentives either to circumvent the reporting requirements or to ensure that their patients appear healthier than they are. After considering the ways in which implementation of the registry potentially compromises privacy, the article concludes with a list of specific recommendations for both the NYC and future registries targeted at noninfectious diseases. In short, we recommend making the confidentiality provision more explicit, limiting secondary uses of the information obtained, protecting diabetics from adverse insurance consequences due to operation of the registry, and protecting the privacy of physicians

Governance options for effective interprofessional education: Exposing the gap between education and healthcare services

The increase in interprofessional models of collaborative practice and identification of health services as interprofessional organisations, sits somewhat awkwardly with traditional governance systems for both health services and educational institutions. Whereas health services have a primary focus on assuring competence and safety for health care practice, educational institutions have a primary focus on assuring academic standards within specific qualifications. Bridging the gap between these two systems with a workable option has proven challenging, especially in relation to interprofessional education (IPE). Given the need to ensure ‘work ready’ graduates within a more interprofessional and collaborative workforce, it is important to review the quality assurance governance models that are in place and to consider which of these existing governance systems, if either, is the more appropriate model for enabling and supporting IPE. This paper describes current issues in relation to governance for quality assurance, summarises the current state of research in the field and discusses potential governance options moving forward. Given that existing governance models are not meeting the challenges of IPE, there is a need to achieve greater alignment between the academic and health service governing systems.N/