The poster will present a timeline of the growth of interprofessional education and care in theUnited Statesfrom its beginnings over a century ago to the present. It will include major milestones that have occurred and show how these have contributed to its current status. The poster will identify the key groups involved in spearheading the current movement, major programs of IPE across the country, significant international collaborations, and evidence as to why the nature of healthcare will be changed in the near future.

Learning Objectives: This poster will put IPE in its historical context. Participants will:

1. Learn that IPE is not a new concept and has been practiced for over 100 years.
2. Understand how the convergence of interests in IPE by major influential organizations suggests that IPE will become an integral part of health care professionals
3. Understand factors necessary for successful IPE programs
4. Learn how universities across the country have adopted IPE

Evidence demonstrates an association between domestic violence and animal abuse¹. Connecticut passed a law that took effect October 2011, mandating cross reporting of suspected child abuse and animal abuse or neglect between the Department of Children and Families and the Department of Agriculture, who oversee animal control officers. The law mandates developing education for DCF employees to “identify cruelty to or neglect of animals and their relationship to child welfare cases.” ACO need to be trained to identify and report child abuse and neglect.

We propose to develop an educational program in one community:Stamford,CT. This program would include DCF workers, ACO, as well as physicians, veterinarians, prosecutors, social workers and law enforcement officers.

There are limited studies that document the outcome of such legislation, and none that we are aware of from theUnited States. We hope to collect data from theStamfordarea and compare to other locations in the state to determine if the intervention has had an impact on reporting. Recommendations for future investigations would be dependent on the initial findings.

Learning Objectives: At the end of this session, participants will:

1. Identify three signs of child abuse
2. Identify three signs of cruelty to or neglect of domestic animals
3. Outline the link between domestic violence and animal abuse
4. Recognize an individual’s obligations for reporting suspected cases under the law

¹Long, Dennis: Interpersonal Violence and Animals: Mandated Cross-Sector Reporting. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 2007.

Interestingly, the traditional work-place organizational structure is in many ways analogous to contemporary surgical residency training in theUnited States. Examples include varied work assignments in the workplace being similar to varied clinical rotation assignments during residency; promotions offered in the workplace likened to training year advancement in residency; and the work-place hierarchy (e.g. employee to manager) akin to the hospital hierarchy (e.g. intern to department head). Many other similarities exist as well. These analogies between work-place organizational structure and surgical residency are significant as we propose the application of Expectancy Theory to surgical residency training. What follows are opportunities for greater insight into surgical resident MF, as well as the potential to enhance surgical residency training and performance.

Learning Objectives:

1. To understand "Expectancy Theory" and its relevance to adult learning

2. To understand the application of "Expectancy Theory" to surgical residency education

3. To understand factors affecting motivation in adult learners

4. To understand "Expectancy Theory," and "Motivational Force" in enhancing surgical resident training

Nursing students learn and practice new skills in the simulation center with the identical supplies and equipment utilized by hospital personnel is an essential component for their eventual assimilation in hospital clinical units. Creating a partnership between the hospital nursing staff development department’s product review subcommittee and the University Clinical Skills andSimulationCenterhas brought to the forefront the mutual benefits of collaboration.

There is growing evidence in the nursing literature about the effectiveness of clinical simulation as a powerful teaching/learning strategy. This wealth of research attributes simulation’s effectiveness to its design that creates an environment where “students become active learners, abandoning memorization for accessing knowledge, and thinking and applying learning in context rather than providing answers to fact-based tests” (Jeffries, 2007). Simulation suites provide a “safe, supportive environment that allows students to learn a variety of complex skills in a stress-free environment” (Ghiglieri, Ruiz, & Vasudevan, 2007). Learners must have a high degree of believably that the clinical setting is authentic. The clinical simulation suite should be a mirror image of a similar clinical room in the hospital, with all the equipment and products identical to one another. A learner in this simulated patient care scenario can easily transfer lessons learned to real life patient in hospital settings. The benefits of simulation as a teaching strategy has direct improvement on patient safety, increased knowledge, increased compliance with nursing policy and procedures, increased staff and patient satisfaction and increased student /future employee clinical confidence.

Background: Aquatic therapy can meet the needs of individuals from childhood to older adulthood with varieties of health conditions. In certain situations it is preferable to land-based therapy. This specialized area of practice is minimally covered in entry-level occupational and physical therapy curricula, yet aquatic therapy is a rapidly expanding area of practice. Presently therapists work in sites with pools but have no specific training. Therefore this course will fill a great need.

Description of Program: Contemporary Therapeutic Aquatics is an interprofessional course for occupational and physical therapy students, consisting of 10 weekly classes, including didactic and in-pool learning activities. Students will learn about water safety, affective issues, and evaluation and treatment for a variety of health conditions, including neurologic, musculoskeletal, pediatrics, wellness/cardio, and special cases. Several speakers will teach, according to their specialty.

Results: The first session begins Spring semester, 2012, with 11 PT and OT students registered. Performance results including an interprofessional project, final exam and practical with standardized patients are forthcoming after implementation.

Conclusion: Students will provide evidence-based and skilled practice to a variety of patients/clients in an aquatic environment. With a successful pilot year, the course will be opened to clinicians for CEU’s. Thus the course will become self-sustaining financially.

Relevance to interprofessional education and practice: Multiple professions engage in pool therapy. IPE principles enhance practical experience while promoting team-work. Aquatic therapy includes treatment, rehabilitation, prevention, health, wellness, and fitness in an aquatic environment across the age span with musculoskeletal, neuromotor, and cardiovascular/pulmonary and or other conditions. Students will participate in an interprofessional project.

Learning Objectives:

1. Demonstrate the construction of an IPE course from idea to implementation with external (JCIPE’s) encouragement and support.

2. Identify specific strategies in curriculum to develop students’ interprofessional team functioning in the unique context of therapeutic aquatics.

3. Apply IPE principles to connect academicians and clinicians.

Background: The Perelman School of Medicine’s curriculum incorporates team training and learning by creating learning teams of 6-7 students who work together for all four years on educational experiences. Hospice is an example of a team collaborating to provide patient-centered care. The medical student hospice experience is an extension of this teamwork curriculum as part of the Aging Theme, using healthcare professionals who also rely on team-based care as teachers in a clinical setting.

Description of Intervention or Program: During the Family Medicine Clerkship, all students participated in a half-day experience with a member of the hospice team. Students visited at least two patients with their hospice worker. Following the experience, the student was asked to write a short reflection in response to -"What was the most meaningful part of the hospice experience?"

Results: Over one year, narratives were collected (N=120) and a random group (N=25) selected for initial coding and analysis. We applied the four Interprofessional Collaborative Competency Domains as a conceptual framework for theme review. Within the subgroup, students addressed Values/Ethics (6 times), Roles/Responsibilities (8), Communication (4), and Teams/Teamwork (5). A word search of all narratives identified the word “value/s” (3 times), “ethics” (0), “role/s” (22), “responsibility” (7), “communication” (4), “team” (76), and “teamwork” (1).

Conclusions: Narrative analysis results confirm that medical students identify the roles of hospice team members, appreciate the collaborative team approach, and indicate that the hospice experience is a meaningful educational activity that facilitates interprofessional learning.

Learning Objectives:

1. The student will be able to describe the role of a member of the hospice team as measured by reflective narrative responses.

2. The student will be able to recognize the key components of interprofessional collaborative practice in the hospice setting as measured by reflective narrative responses.

Methods: Second year medical student teaching assistants (MSII TAs) and MSIs reviewed the anatomy curriculum related to the thorax and abdomen, as well as six illustrations detailing surface landmarks and underlying anatomy essential for clinical appreciation of healthy and diseased states. MSII TAs worked with groups of 4-5 MSIs at a time to review the material on live models. An evaluation containing both Likert-scale and open-ended questions was created to solicit participant feedback.

Results: 27 MSII TAs taught 76 workshops. 161 Jefferson MSIs participated (63%). Of these, 60% were female, and 40% were male; 96% reported workshops “enhanced their understanding of the material” and 94% would have attended additional workshops, had they been offered. All participants (100%) agreed that MSII TAs were respectful and professional.

Conclusion: Peer-led education can be an effective tool for the instruction of basic elements of the medical school curriculum.

Relevance to Interprofessional Education: This program was designed by a student with prior experience in theater and teaching, and illustrations were created by a student with a background in visual art. Furthermore, this curriculum could be expanded to engage students across and within other medical disciplines.

Learning Objectives:

1. MSIIs will be re-acquainted to medical anatomy to a level where they can competently teach to MS1s the surface anatomy related to the thorax and abdomen, and MSIs will engage voluntarily in learning that takes place in a comfortable, private, and nurturing environment.

2. A template will be established upon which a more extensive surface anatomy curriculum can be built for future medical students, as well as for students across the other medical disciplines, such as PT, OT, and nursing.

3. The design process, teaching plan, methods, materials, and student feedback will be published for future use, with the intention of developing an interprofessional student-led surface anatomy program accessible to students across the health professions. Coordinating anatomy curricula across disciplines is a challenge that could be met by involving senior medical (MSIV), OT, PT, and nursing students.

Background: The Minnesota Complexity Assessment Method (MCAM) tool evaluates person-specific factors that interfere with usual decision-making and can highlight roles for IPTs.

Description: For this mini-course, IM residents completed an online, audio, PowerPoint lecture describing the MCAM tool and roles of IPTs. IM residents met with the geriatrician faculty member who demonstrated how to use the MCAM tool and residents practiced with the tool. During the IPT conference the MCAM tool was applied.

Results: Twenty IM residents completed the mini-course. Results comparing pre- and post-tests demonstrate movement towards greater understanding of IPT care. There were higher average agreement ratings in the post-test compared to the pre-test for: “interdisciplinary health professionals know each other’s roles,” “I know when my patient needs an interdisciplinary team” and “interdisciplinary information tells us about disease progression;” Residents agreed that the mini-course was useful to their practice (40% agreed and 60% strongly agreed) and that MCAM was a useful tool (70% agreed, 25% strongly agreed and 5% undecided).

Conclusions: For IM residents, using the MCAM tool for evaluation of patient complexity in an IPT setting appears to be a successful strategy to highlight the roles of IPT care. Response to this mini-course suggests that residents may be receptive to additional opportunities for learning about, from, and with other health professionals to improve outcomes for at risk seniors.

Relevance to IPE/IPP: IM residents will learn roles of interprofessional teams.

Learning Objectives: After this presentation, participants will:

1. Recognize a useful definition for patient complexity.

2. State characteristics that make a patient complex.

3. Describe how a complexity tool can be used to highlight the roles of interprofessional teams.

Methods: Jefferson Neuroscience Network (JNN) was launched in July 2010. By June 2011 it had 1 Hub and 28 Spoke sites across 2 states (PA, NJ), and had performed 836 TeleStroke consultations. Key Hub and Spoke personnel were consulted regarding H-S relationships. Feedback was organized.

Results: A Hub team was assembled and trained. Three key steps to developing H-S relationships were identified: Secure Spoke physician and administration commitment; Train Spoke team; Address Spoke-specific obstacles. Two key steps to maintaining H-S relationships were identified: Continual education; Institutionalize bi-directional communication. Specific JNN initiatives are described. The proposed H-S relationship model is a patient-centered, physician-driven, voluntary collaboration between treatment sites.

Hubs offer Spokes education, and access to clinical expertise, clinical trials, and a higher level of care. As a result, Spokes may increase evidence-based practice, become more comfortable administering tPA, experience stroke center accreditation opportunities, and decrease transfer of inappropriate patients. In turn, Spokes offer Hubs community partnership, meaning they choose to solicit Hub expert opinion regarding patient management. As a result, Hubs may increase their community reputation and research opportunities. Furthermore, appropriate patients may be rapidly identified and treated in the community or, if necessary, transferred to comprehensive stroke centers within time constraints.

Conclusions: JNN-identified key steps for developing and maintaining H-S relationships may assist other stroke networks to build and sustain relationships between treatment sites. Different treatment sites can collaborate to improve stroke care while simultaneously achieving their own independent goals. Additional practical advice about designing and implementing functional and sustainable TeleStroke programs is needed.

Overall, learners reported that the sessions were appropriate for their level of training, the portrayal by the standardized patient was convincing, the experience would help in future interactions with patients, and that the feedback from the standardized patient was especially useful. As a group, the learners reported that hearing others’ perspectives was helpful in gaining pearls on how they approached the communication tasks at hand.

In the future, our next step is to make the patient encounter more interdisciplinary. We will create a family meeting with a standardized patient, a physician, a nurse, and a social worker all in attendance with similar feedback and discussion. This will allow fuller development of the varied roles of each profession within one scenario and thereby enhance the learners’ interprofessional understanding.

Learning Objectives:

1. To develop effective communication skills in the palliative care setting for nurse practitioners, physicians, and social workers using a standardized-patient learning curriculum.

2. To practice necessary palliative care communication skills.

3. To evaluate differences in communication approaches as well as general roles among members of an interprofessional palliative care team.

An interdisciplinary team of SBHC staff consisting of nurse practitioners (NP), social workers (SW), registered dietitians (RD), the administrative director, and medical director designed and implemented the project. A letter and information sheet was developed for students and parents giving them feedback on the status of their BMI, blood pressure and facts on hypertension and obesity. An algorithm was developed to refer students who were overweight, or had abnormal BP to the centers’ dietitian, center nurse practitioners and / or primary care physicians (PCPs). A letter was also developed for PCPs explaining the purpose of the project and providing a brief review of the recommendations for further evaluation. Providers were trained in motivational interviewing techniques to better counsel students about their BMI and BP. A data base was created to collect the data.

Over 4000 students were screened in a three year period. Forty three students were followed from year one to year three.

As a result of the project, there has been an increase in the number of students referred to the dietitian and to their PCPs. We were able to incorporate into our care a systematic approach to identify students with an elevated BMI and / or blood pressure and refer them for additional care. This project demonstrates an effective interprofessional team approach to patient care.

Learning Objectives:

1. The learner will be able to identify a system to improve the measurement of BMI and blood pressure.

2. The learner will be able to describe an example of an interprofessional team approach to patient care.

Program: We designed a multifaceted IPE program for allied health care professionals involved in inpatient or outpatient care. This included nurses, nurse practitioners (NP), physician assistants (PA), medical assistants (MA), and administrative personnel with patient contact. Participation is on a voluntary, non-compensatory basis. The educational program consists of 2 major components: Journal Club (JC), and Urology Symposium. Quarterly JC meetings are held to review 4-6 papers, and physician moderators are present at each one. Anonymous, self-reporting surveys are collected at each meeting to serve as our outcome measures. The symposium is held annually at an offsite location where presentations, videos and lectures are given.

Results: JC was positively received by most attendees. The components liked most were: 60% stating physician interaction was most important, and 70% stated that the information provided would help them in their practice. Dislikes were (40%) nothing, (11%) complexity of the articles, and 21% requested fewer articles. Other suggestions included more time for discussion, and presentations from the physicians to enhance learning.

Conclusion: Major benefits include increasing knowledge and recognition of other members’ roles in patient care. Further efforts are being made to expand this educational program. Future studies are needed to determine the impact of IPE program on urology patients.

Relevance: This program brought together members within the entire Department of Urology. Health care professionals within our department often take care of the same patient, but at different times. The program was able to bring everyone together to discuss different roles, and enhance each others’ learning experience by doing so.

Learning Objectives:

1. To identify key features of IPE to train health and social care professionals to work together effectively;

2. To build and maintain a strong IPE program for allied health care professionals within the urology department;

3. To identify potential increases in patient satisfaction throughout the department once the program was initiated.

The speech-language pathologist is the interdisciplinary team member responsible for the assessment of dysphagia and the development of the treatment plan. Interventions include diet modification, compensatory strategies and multiple-modality treatments.

Often, when a patient is identified as aspirating “thin” or “regular” liquids, they are subjected to a modified oral diet which includes the use of thickened liquids to compensate for the physiologic deficits resulting in dysphagia. The compliance rate with use of these thickened liquids is often poor. For these patients, dehydration and non-compliance are concerns realized by the entire interdisciplinary team.

The Free Water Program is an evidence-based initiative that was developed via collaboration of the Clinical Nurse Specialist, Nurse Practitioner, Medical Director, Speech-Language Pathologists, Staff Nurses, and Physical and Occupational Therapists on the Comprehensive Acute Rehabilitation Unit at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

This poster will focus on the challenges associated with restricting a patient’s oral diet and how, using an evidence-based program, the interdisciplinary team can collaborate to determine the readiness and safety of an individual to participate in the program. Specific aspects of the program will be highlighted: rationale for allowing “free water,” criteria for patient participation, need for supervision vs. independence, role of each interdisciplinary team member in successful execution of the components of the program including the following team members: physician, nurse practitioner, nursing, nursing assistants, speech-language pathologist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, recreational therapist, etc.

Learning Objectives: At the end of this session, participants will:

1. Discuss the rationale for allowing patients with dysphagia, and possible known aspiration risk with “thin” or “regular” liquids, access to free water.

2. Discuss the evidence base available to support use of a free water program with dysphagic patients.

3. Identify the criteria for patients being assigned to a Supervised vs. Independent Free Water Program as established on the Comprehensive Acute Rehabilitation Unit atThomasJeffersonUniversityHospital.

4. Discuss the role of the individual interdisciplinary team members as it pertains to successful participation in the Free Water Program.

HHI brings a multidisciplinary approach to improving health and access to healthcare among families experiencing homelessness in an urban setting. The shared leadership model between social work and medicine values patient centered care through interdisciplinary education and practice. Students from the various healthcare fields participate in learning and serving together. Healthy collaboration and community partnerships lead the way in a growing movement of advocacy for a healthier population of families experiencing homelessness.

Learning Objectives:

1. The learner will identify the key components of interdisciplinary collaboration within HHI.

2. The learner will appraise the need for interprofessional education in teaching cultural competence, as it relates to families experiencing homelessness.

Background: The Interprofessional Health Series is a series of lectures, talks, and discussion sessions given by Health care professionals to medical students, to increase their knowledge of other medical professions. The study was designed to explore the knowledge of medical students about other professions; the paradigm changes brought about by the lectures and the future effects on medical practices.

Description of Intervention or Program: First & second year medical students at the University of Kentucky who have attended past Inter-Professional health series (IPHS) events, as well as a group of first and second year medical students who have NOT participated in the IPHS will be recruited as participants in the research study. This study will use a mixed methodology (questionnaire & focus group) to collect information that will allow the researchers to better understand the impact of the Inter-Professional Lunch and Learns on students who participated in one or more of the series. Subsequently, one or more of the Principle or Co-Investigators will conduct two focus groups (one consisting of participants in the Inter-Professional Lunch and Learn series and one consisting of medical students who chose not to participate in the Inter-Professional Lunch and Learn series), in a private conference room on the University of Kentucky Lexington campus.

Preliminary Findings: Reviews of the Inter-Professional Lunch and Learn Series have been largely positive. Attendants have expressed the desire for a more formal inclusion of Inter-Professional Education in the Medical curriculum. Focus group interviews of participants in comparison with non-participants in the Lunch & Learn will be shared during the presentation.

Relevance to Inter-Professional Education or Practice: Increasing the awareness of medical students of other professions early in the medical curriculum goes a long way in fostering beneficial collaboration among medical professionals later in their careers.

Recommendations for future investigation and/or incorporation into education and/or practice settings: We recommend that more medical schools adopt this student run Inter-Professional Health Colloquium as it opens the portals of communication among students of different medical professions.

Learning Objectives:

1. To identify the values of Inter-Professional education in the medical curriculum.
2. To foster the desire to practice in Inter-Professional settings among medical students.

Facing HIV/AIDS in the Community Through Sport (FACTS) is a program created by a medical student and a physical therapy student after being named Albert Schweitzer Fellows. They are from two different institutions in the Philadelphia Area and sought guidance from The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship’s Greater Philadelphia Program Director as well as a nursing faculty member who as an adult nurse practitioner specializes in HIV/AIDS research and treatment. Various disciplines were instrumental in crafting this program.

The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship is a national leadership development program where multidisciplinary health professional students develop projects to address social determinants of health in their community. Through the Fellowship, students have monthly interprofessional meetings with other Fellows in the same branch (Greater Philadelphia Area) consisting of students from medicine, physical therapy, pharmacy, public health, population health, dentistry, and nursing from greater than 5 different universities. Each Fellow is responsible for identifying a speaker for various topics including health literacy, creation of non-for-profit multidisciplinary health clinics, traveling health-care, etc. for monthly seminars. Following the talk, Fellows discuss challenges from each person’s community outreach project and offer ideas for improvement.

To date, two cohorts have gone through the FACTS curriculum: one high-school group and one middle-school group. Students expressed interest in learning about HIV/AIDS and discussing stigmas associated with the disease. Despite the intensity of the topic, students were candid throughout the experience. They participated in interactive games such as dodge ball and a variation of “tag” focused on demonstrating concepts related to the disease.

This paper will be of interest to those implementing interprofessional learning experiences mediated through community outreach programs.

Learning Objectives: Following listening to this paper, attendees will be able to:

1. Understand how to incorporate IPE in a functional community outreach setting.
2. Understand the benefits of interprofessional meetings to fuel community projects so that members may learn how to utilize the diversity of other professionals’ advice in order to grow individual outreach projects.

Background: The current LCME requirements for MSIVs include a return to the basic sciences before graduation from medical school. AtJefferson, one of the ways this is achieved is by returning MSIVs to the neuroanatomy lab to study and teach basic Neuroanatomy to first year OT and PT students. The capstone of this course for the MSIV is a research paper detailing a self-selected topic of interest that is neuroanatomy-related. One student chose to draw upon her background in classical music training, her interest in Beethoven’s life and compositional style, and research literature surrounding the neuro-anatomical cause for Beethoven’s hearing loss.

Results: The student’s research of cochlear anatomy, Beethoven’s social, family and medical histories, and the differential diagnoses for sensorineural hearing loss culminated in the research paper entitled Never Can the Praise Be Too Loudly Sounded.

Conclusion: The LCME requirement for basic science education in the medical school curriculum is an opportunity for interprofessional studies across medical and humanities disciplines.

Relevance to Interprofessional Education: The Neuroanatomy 403 course was led by faculty in Jefferson’sMedicalCollege andSchool ofHealth Professions’ Department of Occupational Therapy. Students in Jefferson School of Health Professions (PT and OT training programs) andJeffersonMedicalCollege participated. The MSIV reviewed basic neuroanatomy, assisted OT and PT students with their laboratory studies, and applied her undergraduate music degree to the study of Beethoven’s composition, life, and illnesses.

Learning Objectives:

1. Medical, occupational therapy, and physical therapy students will together engage in the learning or re-learning of clinically relevant neuroanatomy.

2. The fourth year medical student will be given opportunity to draw upon his or her knowledge of the humanities while applying findings from medical and scientific research to his or her chosen area of neurological study.

3. As an increasing number of “non-traditional” applicants from arts and humanities backgrounds enter medical school and the practice of medicine, more can be done to draw upon the life experiences and variety of interests these students have to offer.

This method of EHR validation is far superior to the traditional methods of utilizing classroom type settings off of the clinical unit. The use of live patient actors (Standardized Patients), human simulators (Sim Man, IStan, Noelle), and task trainers (molded torsos, IV infusion arms, etc.), provides for EHR validation that is close to real life. This method of validation is being used to improve electronic clinical documentation. Nurses can actually see and interact with the software design before it goes live on the nursing units. As an example, order sets for post-operative patients were developed and integrated within the EHR to enhance preparation for the clinical rotations. Interacting with evidence-based order sets added a level of richness and complexity to the software validation, not possible in traditional settings. The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, released by the Instituteof Medicinein 2010 suggests that “Schools of nursing, in collaboration with other health professional schools, should design and implement early and continuous interprofessional collaboration through joint classroom and clinical training opportunities.”⁷ Addressing this recommendation, faculty members, in conjunction with the hospital information technology experts, are validating software design using real life clinical scenarios in simulated environments. This approach will lead to the development of EHR modules that more closely match the needs of evidence-based practice and workflow.

References

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2. Jeffries PR. A framework for designing, implementing, and evaluating simulations used as teaching strategies in nursing. Nursing Education Perspectives. 2005; 26(2), 96-103.

3. DavisF. Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology. MIS Quarterly, 13(3), 319-340. 1989.

4. Davis, Bagozzi, Warshaw. User Acceptance of Computer Technology: A Comparison of Two Theoretical Models. Management Science, 35(8), 982-1003, 1989.

5. Rauen C. Using simulation to teach critical thinking skills: you can’t just throw the book at them. Critical Care Nursing Clinics ofNorth America. 2001; 13(1), 93–103

6. The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice. American Association of Colleges of Nursing, Essential VI: Interprofessional Communication and Collaboration for Improving Patient Health Outcomes. October 20, 2008.

7. InstituteofMedicine. The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health.Washington,DC: The National Academies Press; 2010.

8. Hager M. Enhancing Interactions between Nursing and Medicine: opportunities in Health Professional Education.New York: Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation; 2001:11–34.

Background: Nearly all disciplines have emphasized interprofessional education as a critical education component. For the past 20 years, theUniversity ofIllinois College Of Medicine atRockford has successfully recruited, produced and retained rural physicians forIllinois through the Rural Medical Education (RMED) Program. Historically, this campus has housed a medical school; five years ago the Illinois Board of Higher Education approved the interdisciplinary-focusedNationalCenter for Rural Health Professions (NCRHP). The site is now designated a “health sciences education” campus of theUniversity ofIllinois.

Description of Intervention or Program: The RHP Program was developed over five years. The Rural Pharmacy Education (RPHARM) Program was created to move the NCRHP mission forward. The single discipline RMED Program was expanded and became the interdisciplinary RHP Program (RMED and RPHARM students). Planning is underway to include disciplines such as nursing, social work, public health and dentistry. All students enrolled in the program completed an orientation survey to obtain perspectives and background demographics.

Results: A formal recruitment and admissions process and a curriculum based on the longstanding RMED curriculum were developed; an assessment strategy was also created. Twenty-two students and 26 students were accepted into the RHP Program for the classes 2014 and 2015. Approximately 90% of RHP students were from rural areas.

Conclusions: Student responses to baseline surveys indicate a positive orientation toward rural community health and participation in a curriculum teaching these principles. The RHP Program is a promising interprofessional approach to preparing healthcare providers who will locate or stay in rural areas.

Relevance to interprofessional education or practice: Beneficial for interprofessional rural education: recruitment, retention and practice of professionals.

Learning Objectives:

1. To compare and contrast various programs and activities within an interprofessional rural healthcare program
2. To describe how to recruit students into an interprofessional rural healthcare program
3. To recall current students’ perspectives on rural healthcare and the RHP program

Methods: First, during the intern orientation lecture section, a fifteen minute overview of transitions of care was given. Second, there was a 40 minute small group session. Each group had an internal medicine physician-moderator, social worker, clinical pharmacist, and visiting nurse. Each group reviewed 2 cases focusing on safe discharge from hospital to home or skilled nursing facility. Each case highlighted the role of the interprofessionals and each discipline was given ample opportunity to provide information for the case, highlight their role, and emphasize key high risk discharge issues.

Results: An IRB approved survey using a 5 point Likert scale was used. 24 (42.8%) agreed and 31 (55.3%) strongly agreed the session enhanced their ability to identify threats to a safe hospital discharge. 33 (58.9%) agreed and 23 (41%) strongly agreed that after attending the session, they feel more confident in understanding of the roles of other health care professionals participating in the discharge process. 8 (14.2%) agreed and 48 (85.7%) strongly agreed that the use of other healthcare professionals to teach this topic was effective.

Conclusion: This interprofessional case-based discussion on teaching safe transitions demonstrated an overall increased confidence in knowledge of discharge transitions, threats to safe hospital discharge, and interprofessional roles in discharge process.