HCA training: Knock, knock, knocking on the political domain's door

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES
humanistic ------------------------------------------- mechanistic
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

individual

emotional care	physical care
social care	FRANCIS - a year on:  How much training do healthcare assistants have before their first shift on a ward? 25% = none

group - population

Although that 25% sits nicely in the POLITICAL domain, what is the impact of this finding across the domains overall? Whether or not the impact is equally shared across the interpersonal, sciences and social domain, upon which domain will it end up knocking?

Calkin, S. (2014) Francis impacts on culture and patient safety, HSJ, 7 February. 124, 6376, 4-5.

... 11.12.13 . ... time to deliberate upon Dementia ... G(r)8

@dhgovuk

#G8dementia

News update: 11.12.13 posted 2024hrs UT 
BBC News G8 'will develop dementia cure or treatment by 2025'

See also:
Department of Health, 29 November 2013, England
Dementia: A state of the nation report on dementia care and support in England

Site: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dementia-care-and-support

Above banner source acknowledged and with thanks:
http://dementiachallenge.dh.gov.uk/category/g8-dementia-summit/

Student engagement survey UK pilot – Year 2: HEA

Forwarded from the HEA

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) was designed to measure students’ participation in activities and practices that are known to relate to improvements in learning. It asks about the amount and quality of effort that students invest in their studies, as well as the extent to which their courses and institutions are supportive and encouraging. It was developed and first used in North America in 2000, and has now been adapted and implemented in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Ireland.

In early 2013, nine UK institutions piloted a range of survey questions derived from NSSE. The questions were focused on four key areas:

• Critical thinking. Four questions asked students about the emphasis their coursework placed on a range of mental activities such as evaluating and applying information.

• Course challenge. Three questions focused on how their courses have encouraged them to work hard.

• Collaborative learning. Three questions asked students how often they had interacted with other students in a range of ways.

• Academic integration. Five questions explored students’ interaction with academic staff, participation in class and discussions with others outside class.

8500 students responded, and the report of the first year of the pilot will be published on 6 November 2013 and will be available at www.heacademy.ac.uk/surveys. The report contains analysis of the results, as well as findings from interviews with students about the questions used.

In order to allow more institutions to take part in this project, and to collect more data for research purposes, the project will run again in spring/summer 2014.

Participation in this project allows institutions to ask students about the extent to which they are investing effort in their studies, to identify areas where more encouragement and opportunities to engage may be required. Institutions will be able to benchmark their own results against the aggregate UK results, both at institutional and subject level, to better understand their students’ engagement.

For full information on the pilot and how to be involved, along with all related documentation please see our website at http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/engagement_survey/pilot_call_2014

Kind Regards

Celia

Dr Celia R Brigg

Academic Lead (Business Development)

 celia.brigg at heacademy.ac.uk

The Higher Education Academy, Innovation Way, York Science Park, Heslington, York, YO10 5BR

www.heacademy.ac.uk – Twitter @HEAcademy

Positioning Nursing in a Digital World. RCN eHealth Survey 2012 Report

Abstract:

Commissioned by the RCN, this eHealth survey explores the knowledge and experiences of nursing staff in relation to current eHealth developments, together with their attitudes to new and emerging uses of technology in health and social care. The aims of the 2012 survey were to identify the readiness of nursing staff to participate in eHealth, to understand the barriers that prevent nursing staff from benefiting from information and communications technology, and to ascertain what progress has been made since the previous RCN eHealth survey in 2010. 

Image source: http://www.gerrybolger.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/image1.jpg

Study on attitudes to epistemic uncertainty in safety - Call for participants

From: Eugenio Alberdi, e.alberdi AT CSR.CITY.AC.UK
To: SOCIOTECH AT JISCMAIL.AC.UK
Sent: Tuesday, 17 September 2013, 19:57
Subject: Study on attitudes to epistemic uncertainty in safety - Call for participants

The Centre of Software Reliability and the Department of Psychology at City University London are running a study on reactions to epistemic uncertainty in decision problems about safety.

Perceived errors in such decisions are often debated hotly after the fact, but there is still a need to study how the input to the decision maker can help or hinder correct decisions.

If you are involved in any capacity with probabilistic reasoning about safety and risk, we would be grateful if you take the survey at:

http://www.csr.city.ac.uk/people/eugenio/probabilities_survey.html

This study arises from research project UnCoDe -
(UNcertainty and COnfidence in safety arguments: effect on expert DEcision makers):

http://www.city.ac.uk/informatics/school-organisation/centre-for-software-reliability/research/research-projects/uncode

All participants will have the opportunity to read the final report from the study and the other project outputs.

Regards,

_eugenio

Dr. Eugenio Alberdi

Research Fellow, Centre for Software Reliability,

City University, London, Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB

Email: e.alberdi AT city.ac.uk

Tel: +44 (0)20 7040 8424  Fax: +44 (0)20 7040 8585

http://www.city.ac.uk/informatics/school-organisation/centre-for-software-reliability/staff/dr-eugenio-alberdi

The Case for Information: Investment in patient information improves outcomes and reduces costs

A new Patient Information Forum (PiF) research report highlights how providing information to patients and their carers improves outcomes, reduces costs and gives people a better experience of care.

PiF commissioned research to identify the benefits of investing in health information. The project, which looked at over 300 studies, found that there are good business reasons to justify the investment of more time, money and training in health information provision and support. These include positive impacts on service use and costs, substantial capacity savings, and significant returns on investment by increasing shared decision-making, self-care and the self-management of long-term conditions.

To access the report please see:
http://www.pifonline.org.uk/the-case-for-information-investment-in-patient-information-improves-outcomes-and-reduces-costs/

My source: Irina Johnston, CHAIN Administrative Assistant

International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation: 2012 Report

IHTSDO CoP: 2012 Annual Activity Report Now Available

Our annual activity report for 2012 is now available in two formats:

Online magazine: www.ihtsdo.org/activity_report

PDF: www.ihtsdo.org/activity_report.pdf

We hope you enjoy it! Any comments or questions can be sent to info AT ihtsdo.org.

Source and many thanks to Juliet Krarup (ihtsdo staff)

"The Deprofessionals" BBC radio4: nursing, teaching and social work

Driving to Milton Keynes late afternoon for DTMD2013 Mon-Weds, I listened to a BBC radio 4 programme about the political assault on several public professions - The Deprofessionals

What does it mean to be a professional today, at a time when the public services are in a state of turmoil?
Time was when a professional was easily recognised for what he or she did by virtue of their qualifications and experience, when their competence could be measured against ...

It should be available for the next week.

When I think about community mental health nursing since 1985 I can identify with many of the points raised. How the role has changed, the former therapeutic skills focus, the change in skill mix, the advent of Agenda for Change and the existence of staff who may miss being clinically 'banded' altogether.

Community Informatics and Improving Health: New Special Issue

Colleagues:

The Journal of Community Informatics has just published its latest issue at

 http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej. We invite you to review the Table of Contents here and then visit our web site to review articles and items of interest.

Thanks for the continuing interest in our work,

Michael Gurstein, Ph.D.

Editor in Chief: Journal of Community Informatics, Vancouver CANADA Phone 604-602-0624 gurstein at gmail.com

The Journal of Community Informatics

Special Issue: Community Informatics for Improving Health Table of Contents

http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/issue/view/40

Editorial

--------

Overview of ICTs and Health

                Lareen Ann Newman

Editorial: Community Informatics for Improving Health

                Michael Gurstein

Articles

--------

Developing decentralised health information systems in developing countries –cases from Sierra Leone and Kenya

                Edem Kwame Kossi,       Johan Ivar Sæbø,             Jørn Braa,            Mohamed Mumeneeh

Jalloh,   Ayub Manya

Improving community health equity: the potential role for mHealth in Papua New Guinea

                Belinda Jane Loring

Capturing Qualitative Spatial Data to Understand Social Epidemiology in Public Health

                William R Buckingham

Narrating Aboriginality On-Line: Digital Storytelling, Identity and Healing

                Naomi Adelson,                Michelle Olding

Decreasing Health Disparities through Technology: Building a Community Health Website

                Olga Idriss Davis,              Kristen Bean,     Dominica McBride

Bridging the Digital Divide: A Bilingual Interactive Health Kiosk for Communities Affected by Health Disparities

                Kristen Bean,     Olga Davis,          Hector Valdez

‘MYBus’: Young People's Mobile Health, Wellbeing and Digital Inclusion

                Bjorn Nansen,   Kabita Chakraborty,        Lisa Gibbs,           Colin MacDougall,           Frank Vetere

Concussion Information on the Move: The Role of Mobile Technology in Concussion Management

                Osman Hassan Ahmed, Andy J Pulman

With a little help from my friends: experiences of building a virtual community for children with cancer

                Paula Hicks,        Jane B. Grimson,              Owen P. Smith

Impact of Internet on delivery of critical cardiac health care  :

                Sudeepa - Banerjee

A review on mHealth research in developing countries

                Wallace Chigona,              Mphatso Nyemba,          Andile Metfula

Reports

--------

Socio-technical approach to community health: designing and developing a mobile care data application for home-based healthcare, in South Africa

                Retha de la Harpe,           Hugo Lotriet,      Dalenca Pottas, Mikko Korpela

Perceived Benefits Of Remote Data Capturing In Community Home-Based Care:

The Caregivers’ Perspective

                Nobubele Angel Shozi,  Dalenca Pottas, Nicky Mostert-Phipps

Health Impact Assessment of a UK Digital Health Service

                Sue Heather Wright,       Irfan Ghani,        John Kemm,       Jayne Parry

Points of View

--------

W(h)ither Community: Locating participatory approaches to ICT-enabled health and development

                Ian Pringle

________________________________________________________________________

The Journal of Community Informatics http://www.ci-journal.net

 

Extrasolar planets, x-phi and The Francis report

I'm sure there is a planet out there - extrasolar - with the physical make-up such that be it an incredible water fall, tidal surge, or rolling polished mega-rocks - the noise, could we hear it, would do far more than make your ears bleed.

Today, here in England there is a legal, health and political media event of very serious import. The ruckus in health and political circles might also make for more than bleeding noses and definitely thousands of continuing broken hearts.

The Francis report will be published today. Further insights and findings will be revealed c/o the Public Inquiry with recommendations on the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust health care debacle.

In Philosophy Now Jan/Feb 2013 Tibor Fischer's editorial mentions the need for marketing within philosophy and literature, with the suggestion of placing x-phi on a T-shirt.

'X-phi' of course reads as experimental philosophy.

In health care, nursing and social care evidence counts for everything (and for h2cm too). Evidence based practice that is founded upon research is essential. Experiments are needed that can be reproduced, extended, validated. ...

Today is a profoundly sad day for everyone in the NHS, as many commentators have already predicted. The future constantly beckons, but today reflect we must that in the clamour for evidence based care, does this mean we must don T-shirts?:

x-care

Have we forgotten the principles of what it is to care: compassion - our duty of care?

No, but amid the cacophony of technology, technical care, the targets, statistics, budget cuts, the challenges to morale and nursing's values we need to be ever more vigilant.

We must learn how to x-listen and x-shout in the 21st century health care environment(s).

But experiments in how to listen, how to blow a whistle? Surely not.

Well yes: as clearly here basic care systems did not work they failed terribly: individually, organisationally and across the FIVE care domains of h2cm.

HealthTap: Invited to add their widget... I asked a question...

No doubt it was a bulk email, but I received an invitation from HealthTap to add their widget here on W2tQ. The widget provides the means to access their service, that of putting questions to medical experts.

I have minimized the side bar content, stripping out buttons and other media paraphernalia and yet suitably intrigued I asked a question - ;-)

Q. Is there a conceptual framework that can help

 assure holistic (physical - mental, social) and integrated care 

that is also person-centered? 

Fourteen hours later news of an answer duly arrived by email:

Holistic Medicine
I believe that Holistic Medicine, when properly practiced, assures all of that. For the principles delineated by the American Holistic Medical Association see http://www.holisticmedicine.org/content.asp?pl=2&sl=22&contentid=22

Also see http://www.abihm.org/general-public


I greatly appreciate Dr. Randy S. Baker's response and the above links. This is helpful in several respects despite not exactly being the answer I was hoping for.

The answer is itself holistic in a sense in wrapping the question up in an organisational wrapper. That's a safe response, with medicine in there for wholistic measure. Who ever said medicine is reductionist! Judging from his profile holistic medicine is Dr Baker's forte.

Also interesting in the answer is the way the hook in the question was deemed to be the reference to 'holistic' and not the conceptual framework element.

Another point in Dr Baker's reply that reflects on Hodges' model and the health news media in England (UK) next week* is the bit about when properly practiced.

The adoption of Hodges' model is no guarantee of 

person-centered, 

integrated, 

holistic care.

Although the term conceptual framework (Hodge's model !) is not given in the answer: assure is.

What ever conceptual framework (care model, care philosophy...) is adopted to deliver health care, they must contribute towards the assurance of high quality care - that which ultimately positively engages the patient, carer, family and communities.

My question still remains and is usefully extended, passed to the above organisations.

So does the AHMA and the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine have a conceptual framework that helps support their holistic objectives and assurance of care? I will contact them to see if I can obtain a further response.

Thanks again to Dr Baker and HealthTap.

* The Francis Inquiry Report is anticipated on Wednesday.

The Willis Commission on Nursing Education: Recommendations

Here are the recommendations from this commission (the full report is also available):

• Patient centred care should be at the heart of all pre-registration nursing education and continuing professional development.
• There were no shortcomings found in nursing education that could be directly responsible for poor standards of care or a decline in care standards.
• Nurses and their organisations must stand up to be counted on the challenge of poor care and loss of public confidence in order to restore professional pride.
• Nursing education needs to imbed patient safety and dignity as a top priority.
• Better evaluation of and research into nursing education programmes is necessary to ensure a programme that is fit for purpose.
• The future nursing workforce requires nurses to work in a variety of settings.
• Recruitment campaigns need to widen their diversity in order to encourage the widest, best possible range of applicants.
• Health care service providers must fully support nursing education.
• Universities need to recognise nursing as a practice and research discipline.
• Attention needs to be paid to developing a strategic understanding of the nursing workforce as a whole and as a UK-wide resource.

My source: RCN and others

Schizophrenia Commission - Recommendations

100 years since Eugen Bleuler coined the term, schizophrenia remains a stigmatised and misunderstood illness. Today a report is published on one of the largest ever reviews of the condition in England. We’d like to tell you about it - and how sharing a picture with your friends can help spread the message…

An independent inquiry

In November last year, Rethink Mental Illness launched the Schizophrenia Commission. Chaired by Professor Sir Robin Murray, this expert panel heard evidence from people with schizophrenia and psychosis, families, professionals, leaders of NHS and social services, academics, policy makers and journalists. Recommendations arising from their inquiry, released today, call for a radical overhaul of the current system of care.

The message that comes through loud and clear is that people are being badly let down by the system in every area of their lives    Robin Murray – Commission Chair
 
The commission found that

• Only 10% of people with schizophrenia are being offered potentially life-transforming talking therapies such as CBT
• Mental health hospital wards are often such appalling places they make patients worse rather than better
• 1 in 3 people affected say they can't get quick access to services when they need it - and many don't know where to go for help
• Major concerns remain about the lack of efficacy and side effects of anti-psychotic drugs, which can lead to rapid weight gain, diabetes, and heart disease

We need more people to understand the realities of living with schizophrenia. Share our infographic today so the public know more about what the illness is - and isn’t.

The messageThe report suggests priority actions that directly affect services for people with schizophrenia. Key recommendations include:

• A complete overhaul of inpatient units including more widespread use of community based “recovery houses”
• A redirection of funding from secure units into early intervention services, which save the taxpayer money and prevent people reaching crisis point
• More research on the causes and treatment of schizophrenia and psychosis including the development of better drugs with fewer side effects
• The elimination of poor prescribing by psychiatrists and the right to a second opinion on medication for patients
• Extending access to psychological therapies and assertive physical health interventions
• A stronger focus on prevention, including clear warnings about the risks of cannabis
• Greater partnership with people with psychosis - valuing their experiences and making their preferences and goals central to their recovery
• Action to meet the needs of all marginalised groups, especially those from African and Caribbean communities
• A better deal for long-term carers who should be treated as partners, not problems

Read the commission’s report and their full 42 recommendations
See what commissioners themselves say about the recommendations and clinical practice by reading their blogs.

You can help
Do you want more people to understand what schizophrenia is? Help combat the myths surrounding the illness. Please share our infographic on Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks in advance for your support.
Rethink Mental Illness

My source: Pam Pinder c/o
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/psychiatric-nursing.html
and various media twitter and BBC Radio 4.

Do check the infographic link in the above text.
The next post will provide a conceptual reflection on the above using Hodges' model.

SCIE Research briefing 43: Effective supervision in social work and social care

This research briefing provides an overview of the evidence concerning the value of supervision in supporting the practice of social care and social work. It is relevant to both children’s and adult social care services and includes a consideration of supervision in integrated, multi-professional teams. While the focus is on social work and social care, some of the research reviewed includes participants from other professions such as nursing and psychology.

The briefing covers evidence on the use of different models of supervision and outcomes for workers, employers, service users and carers. It considers evidence on the costs of supervision and concludes with implications for policy-makers, practitioners, organisations, service users, carers and researchers.

Download here: 
http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/briefings/briefing43/

My source: Jill Anderson via MHHE list

Health literacy around the world - please distribute

My source: HIFA2015

Hello!

At the request of the U.S. Institute of Medicine Roundtable of Health Literacy, I am preparing a background paper on health literacy activities around the world. To support that effort, I have created an online survey tool to gather information on how health literacy is being put into policy and practice in national, state, and local governments, the European Union, the United Nations, the business community, non-governmental and non-profit organizations, and within the education sector.

Our goal is to learn what is going on in the field of health literacy in as many nations as possible [*see note below] - and your assistance in both responding to the survey and sharing the survey with your colleagues is critically important. Please respond to the survey and please forward this survey link and request for participation to your peers and colleagues working in the field around the world.

You can find the survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/global_health_literacy_listserv

A report will be made available based on the outcomes of this effort.

Please let me know if you have any questions about this project or encounter any problems with the web site.

If you have previously received this invitation, you do not need to respond to the survey again if you already have done so. If you have not already done so - please do!

Thank you!
Andrew Pleasant
Andrew Pleasant, Ph.D.
Health Literacy and Research Director
Canyon Ranch Institute
8600 E. Rockcliff Road
Tucson, AZ 85750
Phone 520.239.8561, Ext. 4147
Fax 520.239.8542
andrew AT canyonranchinstitute.org

Canyon Ranch Institute is a 501(c)3 non-profit public charity.
For information, please visit canyonranchinstitute.org

HIFA2015 profile: Andrew Pleasant is Director of Health Literacy and Research at Canyon Ranch Institute, United States. Professional interests: Health literacy, Prevention of disease, Integrative medicine, Health system reform. andrew AT canyonranchinstitute.org

[*Note from HIFA2015 moderator:

At the end of the survey is the following question:

'Please tell us what you think would be the best next steps for the field of health literacy. What could other health literacy researchers, practitioners, and academics located around the world do that would help you to make a greater impact and further advance health literacy in your work?'

I would like to invite comments on this question for discussion here on the HIFA2015 forum: hifa2015 AT dgroups.org

Health literacy is a critical issue to achieve the HIFA2015 goal - to ensure that lack of availability and use of basic healthcare knowledge is no longer a major contributing factor to needless death and suffering. What more can be done to improve health literacy in low and middle income countries? And what more can be done to ensure that healthcare information is presented in ways that are appropriate to those with low health literacy?

Thanks, Neil PW]

Report - Integrated care for patients and populations: Improving outcomes by working together

I've posted on integrated care previously on W2tQ. The core recommendations of this New Year  report on integrated care are:

• government policy should be founded on a clear, ambitious and measurable goal to improve the experience of patients and service users and to be delivered by a defined date
• patients with complex needs should be guaranteed an entitlement to an agreed care plan, a named case manager responsible for co-ordinating care, and access to telehealth and telecare and a personal health budget where appropriate
• change must be implemented at scale and pace; this will require work across large populations, significant reform and flexibility to take forward different approaches.

Publication prompted Time to integrate words with action by Chris Ham and Jennifer Dixon (HSJ 5 January pp. 16-17 - and my source for this news). The report and mention of measures of integrated care that include patient experience provoked further reflection.

Integration in health and social care should be considered critically over the past 25 years and more (but that's a thesis). Evolution in policy matters, but there is a deep archaeology that illustrates the policy aspiration - practice gap the reports priorities seek to address. A comment in response on the King's Fund's site notes the need for (strategies, methods and) a framework. While no magic wand there is a framework that can at least unify disciplines, public and policy makers. And act as a bridge between words and actions.

Integration needs a shared and agreed origin.

(A point* around which disintegration turns)

Although brief (20 pages) the report is an excellent source for references (3 pages) that includes:

Kodner D, Spreeuwenberg C (2002). ‘Integrated Care: Meaning, logic, applications, and implications – a discussion paper’. International Journal of Integrated Care, vol 2,
Available at: www.ijic.org/index.php/ijic/article/view/67 (accessed 13 December 2011).

Kodner D (2009). ‘All together now: a conceptual exploration of integrated care’. Healthcare Quarterly, vol 13(Sp), pp 6–15.

Leutz W (2005). ‘Reflections on integrating medical and social care: five laws revisited. Journal of Integrated Care, vol 14, no 5, pp 3–12.

As we try to integrate words and actions we need to remember:

how we dice and slice influences the scope of integration.

We'll explore this more soon.
*Points?

Nick Goodwin, Judith Smith, Alisha Davies, Claire Perry, Rebecca Rosen, Anna Dixon, Jennifer Dixon, Chris Ham Integrated care for patients and populations: Improving outcomes by working together. Report to the Department of Health and NHS Future Forum from The King’s Fund and Nuffield Trust

Interprofessional Collaborative Care Will Be Key to Meeting Tomorrow’s Health Care Needs

Maryjoan Ladden, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Senior Program Officer

A little over a year ago, the Institute of Medicine’s landmark Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health report put forward a series of recommendations for transforming the nation’s health care system. Among them was a call for a system in which “interprofessional collaboration and coordination are the norm.” That’s no simple assignment in a system that often operates in silos, from schooling through practice. But a number of innovators around the nation are already making headway.

Their work is the subject of a new policy brief from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, part of its Charting Nursing’s Future (CNF) series. The brief delves into what the IOM recommendation means for health care systems, offers case studies of several collaborative care models already in place, and examines the implications of the recommendation for how we train nurses and other health care professionals.

According to the brief, Implementing the IOM Future of Nursing Report–Part II: The Potential of Interprofessional Collaborative Care to Improve Safety and Quality, the “silo” approach must soon give way if we are to meet coming health care challenges. For example, chronic conditions are increasingly common—not surprising given an aging population. But the health care system is poorly structured to provide the sort of coordinated care and preventive services needed to give these patients quality care while reducing costs. Some health care institutions are gearing up for the challenge.

• In Boston, where Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates developed its Complex Chronic Care (CCC) program, primary care has become interprofessional, collaborative and noticeably more efficient. Each CCC patient is assigned a nurse practitioner (NP), a registered nurse with advanced education and clinical training. The NP consults with all the patient’s subspecialists and incorporates their guidance in a single plan of care. The NP then manages and coordinates that care, connecting patients to nutritionists, social workers, and other professionals as needed. The model is dynamic, allowing patients to meet more or less frequently with the NPs and their primary care physicians, who remain responsible for the patients’ overall care.
  

• In New Jersey, the Camden Coalition of Health Care Providers is “revolutionizing health care delivery for Camden’s costliest patients,” according to the brief. These individuals, sometimes called super utilizers, typically rely on hospital emergency rooms for care. Not surprisingly, such patients account for an outsized share of local hospital costs, often with diagnoses that would have been more properly handled in a primary care setting. The Coalition developed its Care Management Project to reduce these unnecessary emergency room visits by treating patients where they reside, even when that means treating them on the street. A social worker, NP and bilingual medical assistant work as a team to help patients apply for government assistance, find temporary shelter, enroll in medical day programs and coordinate their primary and specialty care.
  

Training the Next Generation to Collaborate

Of course, the silo effect usually begins in school. In May 2011, six national education associations representing various health care professions formed the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) and released a set of core competencies to help professional schools in crafting curricula that will prepare future clinicians to provide more collaborative, team-based care. Such efforts are already under way at a number of institutions.

• Maine’s University of New England has developed a common undergraduate curriculum for its health professions programs in nursing, dental hygiene, athletic training, applied exercise and science, and health, wellness and occupational studies. The curriculum includes shared learning in basic science prerequisites and four new courses aimed specifically at teaching interprofessional competencies.
  

• In Nashville, Vanderbilt University is also pursuing an interprofessional education initiative that unites students from the medical and nursing schools with graduate students pursuing degrees in pharmacy and social work at nearby institutions. Students are assigned to interprofessional working-learning teams at ambulatory care facilities in the area.
  

• The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is piloting an interprofessional initiative, as well, focused on preparing medical residents and nursing graduate students for collaborative practice. As part of the initiative, five VHA facilities have been designated Centers of Excellence and received five-year grants from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Each VHA Center of Excellence is developing its own approach to preparing health professionals for patient-centered, team-based primary care.
  

• In Aurora, Colorado, the University of Colorado built its new Anschutz Medical Campus with the explicit objective of creating an environment that promotes collaboration among its medical, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry and public health students. It features shared auditorium and simulation labs, as well as student lounges and other dedicated spaces in which students from different professions can pursue common interests such as geriatrics in a collaborative fashion.
  

Such initiatives are clearly the wave of the future, if only because the pressures of caring for a larger, older and sicker population of patients in the years to come will drive efforts to identify efficiencies. In the words of Mary Wakefield, PhD, RN, head of the Health Resources and Services Administration, “As the health care community is looking for new strategies and new ways of organizing to optimize our efforts—teamwork is fundamental to the conversation.”

Sign up to receive future Charting Nursing’s Future policy briefs by email at
www.rwjf.org/goto/cnf.

My source: Matt Freeman (PRS)