A telehealth-based interprofessional education module focused on social determinants of health

BACKGROUND

This report describes a telehealth-based interprofessional education (IPE) module that connected medical and pharmacy students across different geographical locations. The IPE module focused on developing strategies aimed at reducing health inequities related to social determinants of health.

INTERPROFESSIONAL EDUCATION ACTIVITY

Teams of one doctor of osteopathic medicine and one or two doctor of pharmacy students were created by the course faculty member. Teams were instructed to meet at least four times via videoconferencing technology to discuss their assigned health inequity. Teams were instructed to design possible interventions to reduce the health inequity in their communities. Students completed the Interprofessional Collaborative Competency Attainment Scale (ICCAS) and a peer evaluation to provide feedback to their team member(s).

DISCUSSION

Four hundred and seventy teams comprising 1099 students have participated in this IPE module. On the ICCAS, significant improvement was noted on all items with highest gains on items related to communication and collaboration. On the 2018-2019 peer evaluations, 84.5% of students rated their teammates as exceptional on the item "rate your team member's respect for you and others on the team." On the 2019-2020 peer evaluations, highest agreement was noted on the statement "this student is able to act with honesty and integrity in relationships with other team members." A total of 81% of students felt that the IPE module was useful to their learning.

IMPLICATIONS

Improvement in the ICCAS and positive peer evaluations support a telehealth-based model for provision of IPE.

Assessing the Validity and Reliability of the Pharmacist Interprofessional Competencies Tool

Objective. To determine the validity and reliability of the Pharmacist Interprofessional Competencies Tool (PICT). Methods. Faculty members at Ferris State University, College of Pharmacy developed the PICT, which has five interprofessional criterion (collaboration, ownership, respect, engagement, and application) and four competency levels (unacceptable, novice, competent, and proficient) to assess the interprofessional competencies of pharmacy students. Fourteen pharmacy faculty members were trained in how to use the PICT and then used it to assess students' behaviors in four to six video-recorded interprofessional education (IPE) learning activities. A subset of these faculty members evaluated the video-recorded IPE learning activities using two other previously validated interprofessional assessment tools. Psychometric analysis of the PICT, including internal consistency and inter-rater reliability, was conducted, along with a correlation analysis and factor analysis, and the results were compared to those from the other validated assessment tools. Results. The overall rating of the internal consistency of the PICT was excellent and item-total correlations of the individual criterion were fair to good, with the exception of the respect criterion. The PICT demonstrated excellent overall inter-rater reliability, and individual criterion rated as fair to excellent with the exception of the respect criterion. Specific dimensions of the PICT showed high convergence with previously validated interprofessional assessment tools. Conclusion. The PICT exhibited overall validity and reliability as an assessment tool for measuring the interprofessional competencies of pharmacy students. In establishing the overall validity and reliability of the assessment tool, the respect criterion was not proved to be reliable or valid. Additional training and slight modifications to the PICT and associated IPE learning activities are planned to assist with longitudinal assessment of student performance across the curriculum.

Highlighting a gap in student pharmacist training: Intraprofessional education with pharmacy technicians

INTRODUCTION

The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) Accreditation Standards suggest integration and inclusion of interprofessional education in doctor of pharmacy programs. Although not directly mentioned by these Standards, intraprofessional education between student pharmacists and student pharmacy technicians may provide valuable preparation for comradery in practice.

COMMENTARY

Given the prevalence of collaboration between pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in pharmacy practice, lack of intraprofessional education could be a vital gap in current programs. There have been previous calls within academic pharmacy and from key stakeholder groups for greater involvement of the profession in the training and education of pharmacy technicians, yet literature is sparse on successful models. This commentary includes a discussion of why intraprofessional training is vital, a brief commentary on example intraprofessional activities, as well as strategies for collaboration.

IMPLICATIONS

A series of questions with the intention of evoking further conversations and awareness within academic pharmacy completes the commentary.

Interprofessional education through a telehealth team based learning exercise focused on pharmacogenomics

BACKGROUND

Traditional interprofessional educational (IPE) exercises are those where learning exists "about, from, and with" trainees in two or more professions in order to prepare health sciences professionals to work on interprofessional teams. One emerging difficulty with IPE is the paucity of health profession students at single institutions, and the geographic and financial constraints of multi-institutional collaboration.

INTERPROFESSIONAL EDUCATION ACTIVITY

To circumvent these barriers, we developed a multi-institution telehealth team-based learning (TBL) event between medical and pharmacy students on the topic of pharmacogenomics (PGx). Using a validated pre-post survey design, student attitudes and perceptions were measured before and after an educational intervention designed to simulate interprofessional telehealth collaboration. The survey results showed significant improvement across all areas of student attitudes toward interprofessional collaboration. Also, medical student PGx confidence increased substantially during the exercise even though the only PGx instruction they received was from pharmacy students.

DISCUSSION

These data demonstrate that learning exists "about, from, and with" trainees in other professions, even if they do not physically train in the same location. Free tools are available to create virtual interactions between students on different campuses, and telehealth exercises using these tools are a valid way to conduct IPE across different campuses. The instructional experience does not need to be identical for all participants in the IPE event; rather, tailoring the educational experience to each group of students provides opportunities for inter-student teaching.