In fall 2012, several pharmacy and medicine faculty from NEOMED joined health professions faculty from The University of Akron to attend the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy’s Interprofessional Education Collaborative conference in Atlanta, Ga., on “Designing an Interprofessional Curriculum: Planning, Strategies and Successes.” Their takeaways led to the creation of several trainings designed to expose NEOMED and The University of Akron students to interprofessional teams with other professionals and to educate faculty from both institutions with the ultimate goal of integrating interprofessional education into their teaching. The resulting activities were designed by the faculty and held at the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron (ABIA). The first included nearly 80 students from NEOMED and The University of Akron that were assigned to teams to work on interprofessional competencies via a traumatic brain injury patient case, based on the idea of NEOMED’s Anthony Costa, M.D., and The University of Akron’s Roberta DePompei, Ph.D. The students were from dietetics, medicine, pharmacy, nursing, speech pathology and social work programs. Prior to the events, students were asked to review specific literature and complete assessments on their understanding of interprofessional teams. During the activity, the student teams received patient case materials from the contributing professions. The teams discussed the case and developed a care plan for the patient. Faculty served as passive observers and facilitated a debriefing following the team-based project. During the debriefing, each team reported on the strengths and challenges of the team approach, with faculty members providing insights as well. Some of the strengths outlined by the teams included an appreciation for the patient’s needs and placing the patient’s needs before the needs of any caregiver, and a respect for the value each profession brought to the table. Some specific feedback included, “we would have missed so many components and the patient wouldn’t have gotten the best care,” as well as, “maybe next time I will think to come to you for help.” “The emphasis was less on the case itself and instead on how the students approached the case,” said Patrick J. Gallegos, Pharm.D., BCPS, associate professor of pharmacy practice and associate professor of internal medicine at NEOMED, and pharmacotherapy specialist in internal
medicine at Akron General Medical Center, who is analyzing the results of the sessions for possible publication. “Our focus was to expose the students to interprofessional teams and increase interprofessional awareness regionwide.” Following the student activity, a faculty development activity was designed. Sponsored by the ABIA, The University of Akron and NEOMED, the continuing education faculty development day focused on “Interprofessional Education: Implementing Successful Action Strategies.” The event was developed for both universities’ faculty as well as local dieticians, nurses, pharmacists, physicians, researchers, social workers, speech pathologists and other health care professions. In addition to breakout sessions designed to investigate interests for developing interprofessional education plans at the undergraduate, graduate and clinical levels, as well as ways to tie in virtual exercises and simulation, faculty heard from Jane Lindsay Miller, M.A., Ph.D., director of the Academic Health Center Simulation Center and Interprofessional Education and Resource Center at the University of Minnesota; as well as Brenda Zierler, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, co-director of the Center of Health Sciences Interprofessional Education at the University of Washington. Dr. Miller and Dr. Zierler presented on “Interprofessional Education: How We Started and Where We Are Going” and “Using the Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice.” More than 70 faculty attended, and plans are underway for additional interprofessional faculty trainings in the future. “The goal for interprofessional learning is to prepare all health professions students and practitioners to deliberatively work together to improve patient care and patient outcomes within our community,” said Dr. Gallegos. And that level of commitment to interprofessionalism is University-wide. “The University has clearly made many positive and innovative changes to its approach to health care education over the past few years,” said Dr. Bruce. “The Council of Deans is now using the input of the Task Force and developing the next steps in how interprofessional education is operationalized on our campus.” 15 | IGNITE