Assessing Interprofessional Education

The National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education states that number one expressed need from educators, practitioners, and researchers regarding interprofessional education (IPE) is about measuring IPE and its effectiveness. Unfortunately, there is no simple solution to assessing IPE since every setting has unique measurement needs and, even within a setting, these needs may change at different times with different groups for different purposes. While this presentation will not recommend which IPE outcomes to measure or which tools to use, it will provide guidance on what to look for when selecting an assessment instrument and will provide foundational information and tips for practical application of IPE assessment. Those interested in measurement of IPE should find this presentation helpful as a first step to lay a solid foundation for research and clinical endeavors

2019 Update: Developing Quality Interprofessional Education for the Health Professions

In order to provide quality and cost-effective care, health professionals must be better prepared to lead and collaborate in interprofessional teams. This is the foundation for interprofessional education (IPE), which is a required element for the accreditation of many health professions programs. The Health Professions Accreditors Collaborative (HPAC) recognizes that accreditation must play an important role promoting quality IPE that leads to effective health outcomes, including encouraging communication and collaboration across professions and the institutions that sponsor educational programs. In February 2019, HPAC developed a document in collaboration with the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education to provide guidance so that students are prepared for interprofessional collaborative practice upon graduation. The goals of the provided guidance are twofold: 1. To facilitate the preparation of health professional students in the United States for interprofessional collaborative practice through accreditor collaboration; and 2. To provide consensus guidance to enable academic institutions in the United States to develop, implement, and evaluate systematic IPE approaches and IPE plans that are consistent with endorsing HPAC member accreditation expectations. This presentation will summarize this guidance document in an effort to encourage increased communication and collaboration and to provide guidance on expectations related to quality IPE

2019 Update: Developing Quality Interprofessional Education for the Health Professions

In order to provide quality and cost-effective care, health professionals must be better prepared to lead and collaborate in interprofessional teams. This is the foundation for interprofessional education (IPE), which is a required element for the accreditation of many health professions programs. The Health Professions Accreditors Collaborative (HPAC) recognizes that accreditation must play an important role promoting quality IPE that leads to effective health outcomes, including encouraging communication and collaboration across professions and the institutions that sponsor educational programs. In February 2019, HPAC developed a document in collaboration with the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education to provide guidance so that students are prepared for interprofessional collaborative practice upon graduation. The goals of the provided guidance are twofold: 1. To facilitate the preparation of health professional students in the United States for interprofessional collaborative practice through accreditor collaboration; and 2. To provide consensus guidance to enable academic institutions in the United States to develop, implement, and evaluate systematic IPE approaches and IPE plans that are consistent with endorsing HPAC member accreditation expectations. This presentation will summarize this guidance document in an effort to encourage increased communication and collaboration and to provide guidance on expectations related to quality IPE.https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/hsc_ipe_posters/1008/thumbnail.jp

Standardized Patient Assessment of Communications in Pharmacy and Medical Students

Use of activities (i.e. objective structured clinical examinations, or OSCEs) involving standardized patients (SPs) is a commonly used method of assessing communication skills in health sciences education is through the. The use of SPs was associated with higher scores on communications assessments and significant improvements on many subsections of a communications assessment tool in pharmacy students. However, these studies used faculty (not the SPs) to assess the students. While the use of SPs as direct evaluators of communication skills is recognized in medical education it is poorly defined in pharmacy education. In addition, interprofessional education (IPE) environments (including the one here at the University of New Mexico) are likely to use the same SPs to help train and assess students coming from an array of health professional programs. This project studied the utility of using SPs as evaluators of communication skills in pharmacy students and determined the extent of the difference in SP assessment of communication skills in pharmacy and medical students. We believe such knowledge will be helpful for designing and assessing IPE activities that involve SP interactions

Effect of Coenzyme Q10 and green tea on plasma and liver lipids, platelet aggregation, TBARS production and erythrocyte Na leak in simvastatin treated hypercholesterolmic rats

This study was conducted to investigate the hypocholesterolemic effect of simvastatin (30 mg/kg BW) and antioxidant effect of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10, 15 mg/kg BW) or green tea (5%) on erythrocyte Na leak, platelet aggregation and TBARS production in hypercholesterolemic rats treated with statin. Food efficiency ratio (FER, ADG/ADFI) was decreased in statin group and increased in green tea group, and the difference between these two groups was significant (p<0.05). Plasma total cholesterol was somewhat increased in all groups with statin compared with control. Plasma triglyceride was decreased in statin group and increased in groups of CoQ10 and green tea, and the difference between groups of statin and green tea was significant (p<0.05). Liver total cholesterol was not different between the control and statin group, but was significantly decreased in the group with green tea compared with other groups (p<0.05). Liver triglyceride was decreased in groups of statin and green tea compared with the control, and the difference between groups of the control and green tea was significant (p<0.05). Platelet aggregation of both the initial slope and the maximum was not significantly different, but the group with green tea tended to be higher in initial slope and lower in the maximum. Intracellular Na of group with green tea was significantly higher than the control or statin group (p<0.05). Na leak in intact cells was significantly decreased in the statin group compared with the control (p<0.05). Na leak in AAPH treated cells was also significantly reduced in the statin group compared with groups of the control and CoQ10 (p<0.05). TBARS production in platelet rich plasma was significantly decreased in the groups with CoQ10 and green tea compared with the control and statin groups (p<0.05). TBARS of liver was significantly decreased in the group with green tea compared with the statin group (p<0.05). In the present study, even a high dose of statin did not show a cholesterol lowering effect, therefore depletion of CoQ10 following statin treatment in rats is not clear. More clinical studies are needed for therapeutic use of CoQ10 as an antioxidant in prevention of degenerative diseases independent of statin therapy

Critical appraisal of ticagrelor in the management of acute coronary syndrome

James J Nawarskas, Stanley S SnowdenUniversity of New Mexico College of Pharmacy, Albuquerque, NM, USAAbstract: Ticagrelor is a novel P2Y12 receptor antagonist which, like clopidogrel and prasugrel, functions by blocking adenosine diphosphate-mediated platelet aggregation. However, unlike the aforementioned agents, the binding of ticagrelor to this receptor is reversible. Ticagrelor is also believed to mediate some of its beneficial effects by augmenting the effects of adenosine, which is another unique pharmacologic property of this drug. In terms of antiplatelet effect, ticagrelor is more potent than clopidogrel and produces a faster and stronger inhibition of platelet aggregation. This may also be an advantage of ticagrelor over prasugrel, but this has not been adequately studied. Due to the reversible nature of the binding of ticagrelor to the platelet receptor, ticagrelor has a relatively fast offset of effect, with platelet aggregation approaching pretreatment levels about 3 days after discontinuation of therapy. This has advantages in patients requiring invasive procedures, but also makes medication adherence very important in order to be able to maintain an effective antiplatelet effect. Ticagrelor has been shown to be clinically superior to clopidogrel when given to patients with an acute coronary syndrome, resulting in significantly lower rates of myocardial infarction and vascular death. However, ticagrelor is indicated to be administered with aspirin, and the clinical benefits of ticagrelor may be less when daily dosages of aspirin exceed 100 mg. As expected, bleeding is the most common adverse effect with ticagrelor, although it occurs at rates comparable with those seen for clopidogrel with the exception of noncoronary artery bypass graft-related major bleeding and fatal intracranial bleeds, the latter of which occurs only rarely. Dyspnea is another common adverse effect with ticagrelor, although this is usually not severe and resolves with drug discontinuation. Unlike clopidogrel, there are no known pharmacogenomic concerns with ticagrelor, and emerging data suggest ticagrelor to be effective in patients resistant to clopidogrel, although more study is needed on this topic. While preliminary data suggest ticagrelor to be cost effective when compared with generic clopidogrel, the acquisition cost of ticagrelor is not insignificant and this will likely be an issue for many health care organizations. Currently, ticagrelor is well positioned to assume an active role in the treatment of coronary artery disease due to an impressive efficacy profile and reasonable safety. Its ultimate role in therapy will continue to evolve as studies on this drug continue eg, (Prevention of Cardiovascular Events in Patients with Prior Heart Attack Using Ticagrelor Compared to Placebo on a Background of Aspirin, PEGASUS) and more information hopefully becomes available on its use in clopidogrel nonresponders and relative safety and efficacy compared with prasugrel.Keywords: ticagrelor, P2Y12, adenosine receptor antagonis