Abstract:

For the past eight years interprofessional education and collaboration (IPEC) has been an important part of the lived experience for faculty and students in the Health and Human Services (HHS) Division at Nazareth College of Rochester, NY. Dr. Shirley Szekeres, HHS Dean has led the IPEC effort in her vision, support and passion about the critical value of IPEC to patients, students, and providers. Through her example, faculty have become agents in the overall mission to support and practice IPEC.

Nazareth College is committed to educating our health professionals. In 2012, the College embarked on a fundraising initiative to build a Wellness and Rehabilitation Institute (WRI). The WRI, a 66,000 square-foot building, was designed from the ground up to promote IP and clinical practice.
In 2007 the Interprofessional (IP) Steering Committee conceived a developmental model of IPE which addressed knowledge, skills and attitudes through:
1) academic course work,
2) clinical education opportunities, and,
3) research. In 2012 a 1-credit, IPEC course was offered to HHS students for the first time.

This evolving course has been offered each semester for a total of six semesters.

Current IP Course: IPEC is paramount to providing unparalleled, comprehensive, and safe patient care. All HHS students (Art & Music Therapy, Nursing, Occupational and Physical Therapy, Social Work, and Speech & Language Pathology) are required to engage in IPEC during their academic tenure.

Successful IPEC entails a firm grounding in the student’s specific profession and an understanding about the other professions. To that end, each student is required to complete the course – “Contemporary Issues in IP Team Practice.” Each semester 100 students are enrolled representing the seven HHS professions.

The course has two components:
1) on-line learning and assessment (readings about each profession, quizzes, and reflection papers); and
2) large and small group F2F class time with lecture, demonstration, and case studies.

There are five (two large and three small) F2F sessions which are facilitated by trained faculty members. The small sessions are developmental in nature primarily devoted to increasingly complex case studies. Through a series of targeted activities, students develop an understanding of IPEC as it relates to providing effective person-centered care.

Evaluation:
The student evaluation appraises knowledge gained, skills achieved, and attitudes expressed, and incorporates a Likert-type survey, qualitative feedback, and a group video interview. The faculty evaluation assesses how well prepared they were to teach the course and conduct the F2F sessions. Analysis of the evaluation results includes determining means of survey responses, and categorizing qualitative responses to open-ended questions and course improvements. There was substantial evidence for the value and continuation of the course.

Challenges:
The challenges we faced and overcame in the course included faculty support and involvement, occasional ethnocentricity, scheduling 100+ students from different programs, training and funding facilitators, and overall course coordination.

Future Goals:
Our future goals include continuing to modify the course and achieving a greater integration of the IP course and clinical services. We want to extend our evaluation to measuring IPEC outcomes in graduates’ performance and to assess how or if the changes prove valuable and beneficial in the workplace.

Keywords:

Interprofessional education and collaboration.