Interprofessional collaboration is the direction of healthcare. Finding unique and innovative ways to educate students to work together in a team of professionals should be a goal of nursing professors, as well as other healthcare professions. The collaborative event that has been created and utilized over the past four years helps to create a safe environment for students to learn and work in partnership together for the purpose of introducing students into the world of collaborate care.
Scenic Rivers Area Health Education Center (AHEC) is a local health organization funded by grants to ensure rural individuals can obtain the healthcare they deserve and works to encourage local, rural individuals to become healthcare workers who will return to rural health upon graduation. Scenic Rivers AHEC was one of the founding members who partnered with Viterbo University and University of Wisconsin La Crosse to help bridge the gap across campuses to create an innovative way for students to learn to work in collaborative teams.
Healthcare professionals know what they can provide to a patient to help with their medical care, however, many disciplines are unaware of the strengths of other disciplines. The IPE experience helps students to be able to better understand the roles and abilities of their colleagues not only for the day but for their future work in healthcare.The team of professionals has increased over the past four years to now include occupational therapy, physical therapy, physician assistants, social workers, nursing students, and dietetic students. The students are at varied stages in their programs and program levels vary from baccalaureate level, master’s level, and even doctoral level students. The students need to learn that they will work with members of the team who have various backgrounds and education levels but need to identify ways to work together, speak the same language, and create a sound plan of care that will meet the needs and abilities of the patient.
Standardized patients have been created and changed over the past four years to integrate aspects of each profession. Patients include a homeless man who is diabetic, alcoholic, and has a wound on his foot that is not healing. He has required hospitalization but is now ready for outpatient care. The team must determine who can best support him on his path to recovery despite the challenges of no insurance, no home, and comorbidities. The second patient had a stroke, diabetic, and is receiving nutrition through a peg tube. The final patient is an alcoholic man with history of diabetes who was in a roll-over accident which started on fire. The patient has burns and lacerations which need care, he needs diet changes, assistance with his alcoholism, and ongoing therapies for his injuries. Teams are predetermined to ensure that each team consists of members of all six disciplines.
Students meet the standardized patient (live actor) and each team member has time to ask questions that will help them put the pieces together to ensure the team has a clear picture of all the pertinent information needed to care for the patient. When the interaction time with the patient is complete the actor provides feedback to the group as to how it felt as the patient, elements the team may have missed, and suggestions of how their team may have better coordinated their interaction. Each discipline will identify two or three top priorities for the patient’s care. The team then reviews all of the priorities listed and determines as a group what the top 3-4 concerns are for the patient and begins to develop a plan of care integrating all healthcare disciplines into the plan. The students will then revisit the same patient which will be a few days to a week later in simulated time. Students will again have time to meet and talk with the patient. After the second experience the students will come back together to talk about how their priorities may have changed and what alterations need to be made on the plan of care to better suit the needs of the patient. Questions will arise such as was the patient following the prescribed treatment plan? If not, what were the barriers and how can we remove those barriers or change the plan to better meet the needs of the patient?
The evening ends with a large debrief in which all participants get back together to discuss their overall thoughts and feelings about working in a collaborative care team. Students can identify what they have learned through the process and potentially frustrations they may have encountered either during the simulation experience or from the perspective of the care provider with a noncompliant individual.
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