Despite Interprofessional Education (IPE) being integrated in most healthcare curricula with proven outcomes, barriers to implementation remain, including inconsistency in the quality of IPE activities and lack of high-quality instruments to evaluate the merit of planned and existing IPE activities. To mitigate these barriers, an interprofessional, multi-institutional team gathered data on the utility of an IPE checklist designed to assist educators evaluate the quality, value, and relevance of interprofessional resources and educational materials. A convergent, mixed method design was used to collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative data in parallel. Findings demonstrate the IPE checklist has real-world application and substantive evidence for evaluating IPE activities regardless of experience and expertise and the practical issues encountered. In conclusion, the IPE checklist can contribute to the evaluation of the quality of IPE activities and enhance the education of trainees who will ultimately deliver care to patients and populations.

Inconsistent reporting of IPE study variables hampers replicability and generalizability of interprofessional education (IPE) research. The purpose of this review was to develop an evidence-based list of IPE variables that allows researchers to account for variability in learning environments and outcomes across institutions. A systematic database search was conducted, narrowing to 17 relevant IPE articles. IPE terms were identified in each article. A final list of variables was agreed upon and categorized using Fink's guide for significant learning experiences. Forty-three variables were identified and classified into the four categories: identifying situation factors, identifying learning goals, formulating assessment procedures, and selecting effective learning activities. An IPE variable list was developed for consistent activity reporting by educators and researchers. Implementation and subsequent refinement of these variables would assist in establishing a format for reporting of IPE scholarly work that better supports the advancement of interprofessional science.

Variability in the widespread utilization and implementation of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative's (IPEC) competency framework has highlighted the importance of institutional characteristics that serve as barriers and/or facilitators to progress, as well as the absence of evidence-based assessment instruments designed to measure related constructs. Develop and validate an assessment instrument that leverages the IPEC competency framework to identify institutional characteristics associated with successful implementation of high-quality programmatic interprofessional education (IPE). A 16-member expert panel used a modified Delphi technique to generate consensus statements regarding institutional characteristics associated with high-quality programmatic IPE, which were converted into a pool of items for potential inclusion in the instrument. A convenience sample of individuals who serve as the designated IPE leader at their academic institutions voluntarily submitted responses to these items on behalf of their institutions, and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was utilized to identify a preliminary model structure for the instrument. 105 consensus statements across eight categories – culture, leadership, financing, infrastructure, partnerships, faculty affairs, curricular affairs, and IPEC competency framework – were developed by the expert panel, then transformed into 48 potential instrument items. 158 designated IPE leaders submitted responses as institutional representatives, and EFA yielded a 20-item model structure comprised of three factors: Institutional Infrastructure, Institutional Commitment, and IPEC Competency Framework. Leaders of academic institutions are encouraged to utilize the 20-item IPEC Institutional Assessment Instrument alongside the 105 expert-generated consensus statements it is based upon to assess their institutional capacity for high-quality programmatic IPE and to plan for quality improvement.

Interprofessional education (IPE) initiatives are growing due to the Interprofessional Education Collaborative's core competencies being incorporated into health professions educations programs' accreditation criteria. This investigation examined organizational models and structures of US IPE programs using mixed methodology of quantitative survey and qualitative analysis. Responses (61% response rate from the 131 institutions surveyed) were examined to identify relationships between IPE program organizational factors. Despite marked heterogeneity in most aspects of IPE program infrastructure including administrative structure, financing, and role of the academic health center (AHC), several key relationships emerged. A centralized administrative structure was most common and was associated with dedicated resources. The majority of programs were in AHCs and this was associated with financial structure, annual budget size, program maturity, number of students participating, and references to IPE in promotion and tenure guidelines. IPE learning experiences occurred predominantly in academic settings, identifying a critical need for development of clinical IPE learning experiences. Clinical IPE learning experiences were generally not in mainstream healthcare delivery systems but filled gaps or complemented healthcare efforts for underserved populations. Qualitative analysis results supported the survey results. Continued research in IPE organizational structures is needed to determine external and internal drivers associated with program success and continued trends in the IPE field.

The importance of integrating interprofessional collaboration in both healthcare education and delivery is well documented. Interprofessional education and collaborative practice (IPECP) has been identified as a potential route to achieve the ‘quadruple aim’ through enhancing collaboration and teamwork among professionals, patients and families. Over the last decade, the number of articles addressing IPECP within the literature has grown significantly, as has the global IPECP representation. While the quality of IPECP evaluative research studies has improved over the years, there is still much to be achieved. According to the InterprofessionalResearch.Global (IPR.Global) Discussion Paper, “the research agenda for IPECP should elevate the process of enquiry by shifting focus from that of program- or project-specific level interrogation to determining the impact of IPECP.”

BACKGROUND:Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) training is growing across internal medicine graduate medical education, but lack of trained faculty is a barrier to many programs. Interprofessional education (IPE) may offer a solution but must overcome potential biases of trainees.AIM:To evaluate the impact of an interprofessional POCUS training on residents' attitudes towards interprofessional learning and stereotypes.SETTING:Midwestern health sciences university.PARTICIPANTS:Diagnostic medical sonography (DMS) students (n = 13) served as teachers for first-year internal medicine residents (IMR) (n = 49).PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:DMS students participated in a train-the-trainer session to learn teaching strategies via case-based simulation, then coached IMR to acquire images of the kidneys, bladder, and aorta on live models.PROGRAM EVALUATION:Mixed-methods evaluation, including pre-/post-surveys and focus group interviews. The survey response rate was 100% (49/49 IMR). Composite survey scores evaluating residents' attitudes towards IPE and stereotyping of sonographers improved significantly following the intervention. Qualitative analysis of focus group interviews yielded four themes: enhanced respect for other disciplines, implications for future practice, increased confidence of DMS students, and interest in future IPE opportunities.DISCUSSION:Interprofessional POCUS education can improve residents' perceptions towards IPE, increase their level of respect for sonographers, and motivate interest in future interprofessional collaboration.

BackgroundInterprofessional education (IPE) is a required component of training for all major health professions. A variety of instructional methods and activities have been adopted, however there is no widely-accepted review checklist to guide the creation and utilization of high quality and relevant IPE materials.MethodA modified Delphi method was used to generate consensus around specific elements synonymous with high quality and relevant interprofessional education resources and instructional materials. The process included one pre-voting round with a convenience sample of 15 IPE professionals, and 3 subsequent rounds with an 8 member IPE expert panel from 6 institutions.ResultsThe resulting IPE checklist includes 33 items grouped into categories of Content, Logistics and Assessment considerations. The checklist supports the development of new resources and evaluation of existing activities.ConclusionsThe modified Delphi process was a successful means to solicit expert feedback during the construction and iterative refinement of the IPE Checklist. The checklist will be useful in the design of new interprofessional education activities, and also in evaluating the quality of existing activities.

Using a community-oriented primary care (COPC) approach, the format for this interprofessional rural rotation was a public health focused team project based in a local health department and primary care setting. The target audience included fourth-year dental students, fourth-year undergraduate students in imaging science, second-year master of public health students, third-year medical students enrolled in the MD/MPH program, second-year nurse practitioner students, fourth-year pharmacy students, second-year MSN nursing students, and first-year PhD students. The specific learning objectives of the curriculum were drawn from emphasis areas of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative’s competency domains and included the development of students’ knowledge to function as a member of an interprofessional team to (1) engage diverse health care professionals, (2) communicate with team members to clarify each member’s responsibility in executing components of a public health intervention, (3) choose effective communication tools and techniques, (4) integrate knowledge and experience of other professions, and (5) engage themselves and others to constructively manage disagreements. Additional learning objectives centered on 10 competencies from the Master’s Degree in Public Health Core Competency Project. Assessment of 13 student participants, as a group, showed increased perceived knowledge in 4 out of 5 selected interprofessional emphasis areas and 9 out of 10 public health competencies. Our curriculum provides promising evidence for one interprofessional rural education model with proven short-term effectiveness among six health professions disciplines, in increasing student knowledge in interprofessional emphasis areas and public health competencies.

Interprofessional practice and education (IPE) efforts has greatly increased in the past few years, primarily through the leadership of several national and international organizations. These organizations have sponsored forums for information exchange and best practices, which has significantly influenced the development of programs across various educational institutions and practice environments. Several regional groups have emerged, organized around a common purpose and geographic proximity, to share ideas and implement new IPE programs across the cooperating organizations. This article describes the history and growth of one of the newer regional groups, the Big Ten IPE Academic Alliance. Included in this discussion is how the group was created, its governing structure and the various results of its efforts. The intent is to provide expanded guidance how to develop regional groups that are effective vehicles for the successful implementation of IPE within educational and health settings.

The interprofessional team approach to the management of persons with HIV infection is widely seen as the ideal management strategy. The HIV Medical Association's primary care guidelines recommend that HIV care sites utilize an interprofessional model1 because studies have shown that such a model often helps retain patients in care, identify unmet care needs, and improve adherence to medications.2

Background Point-of-care-ultrasound (POCUS) training is expanding in undergraduate and graduate medical education, but lack of trained faculty is a major barrier. Two strategies that may help mitigate this obstacle are interprofessional education (IPE) and near-peer teaching. The objective of this study was to evaluate a POCUS course in which diagnostic medical sonography (DMS) students served as near-peer teachers for internal medicine residents (IMR) learning to perform abdominal sonography. Methods Prior to the IPE workshop, DMS students participated in a train-the-trainer session to practice teaching and communication skills via case-based simulation. DMS students then coached first-year IMR to perform POCUS examinations of the kidney, bladder, and gallbladder on live models. A mixed-methods evaluation of the interprofessional workshop included an objective structured clinical exam (OSCE), course evaluation, and qualitative analysis of focus group interviews. Results Twenty-four of 24 (100%) IMR completed the OSCE, averaging 97.7/107 points (91.3%) (SD 5.2). Course evaluations from IMR and DMS students were globally positive. Twenty three of 24 residents (96%) and 6/6 DMS students (100%) participated in focus group interviews. Qualitative analysis identified themes related to the learning environment, scanning technique, and suggestions for improvement. IMR felt the interprofessional training fostered a positive learning environment and that the experience complimented traditional faculty-led workshops. Both groups noted the importance of establishing mutual understanding of expectations and suggested future workshops have more dedicated time for DMS student demonstration of scanning technique. Conclusion An interprofessional, near-peer workshop was an effective strategy for teaching POCUS to IMR. This approach may allow broader adoption of POCUS in medical education, especially when faculty expertise is limited.

For health care providers to fully contribute to interprofessional teams, training should be embedded within health care education curriculum. Yet barriers may hinder successful interprofessional education. Determine if learner attitudes toward IPE change over time and with clinical experience. Nebraska Interprofessional Attitudes Scale (NIPEAS) administered prior to student orientation IPE (baseline) and after year 2 IPE events. Repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to assess change over time for the sample, and mixed method ANOVA to determine if change differed by college. 175 students (five colleges) completed baseline and follow-up surveys. Aggregate NIPEAS scores were significantly higher on follow-up (p < 0.001). Repeated measures t-tests examining change by college revealed that scores increased significantly in Colleges of Medicine (p < 0.001), Allied Health (p = 0.04), and Pharmacy (p = 0.005). Results indicated improved attitudes about IPE differing from previous studies; perhaps the result of NIPEAS design for use in longitudinal studies.

Effective interprofessional practice requires interprofessional education that facilitates learners' achievement of competency in the interprofessional domains. Unfortunately, educators currently have a limited number of tools to identify the level of competency of their learners. Previous investigations by some of the authors described the initial characteristics of a tool based on the Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice. Building on this work, this study describes a multi-institutional, three-part study refining this tool. The series of studies further established the validity, reliability, and usability of the assessment tool. Based on the data derived from this study, we created a shorter, more easily utilised version of the tool that retains previous psychometric strengths. This article describes a tool that consists of two domains, one linked to interprofessional interaction and one linked to interprofessional values. It is believed that this assessment tool may help educators define competence in interprofessional practice and guide assessment of both programmes and learners.

Interprofessional education (IPE) for health professions students can facilitate collaboration. Previous instruments to measure student attitudes about IPE were reported to lack psychometric and validity evidence. The Nebraska Interprofessional Education Attitude Scale (NIPEAS) was developed to measure the attitudes of pre-clinical learners to practicing health professionals. The 19 item questionnaire was administered in 2012 to 370 students, in 2013 to 280 faculty, and in 2015 to 353 students. An exploratory factor analysis found that NIPEAS items loaded onto four factors: “Team approach to health care,” “Receptivity to teammates,” “Self-efficacy as a team member” and “Ethics in health care.” Confirmatory factor analysis suggested that the four-factor model for NIPEAS provided an adequate fit to the data. The attitude scales in NIPEAS were derived from the IPEC competencies. NIPEAS appears to be useful for measuring attitudes about interprofessional collaboration of pre-service health professions students and health care providers.

One in four women veteran patients report experiencing sexual and gender harassment when attending the Veterans Health Administration (VA) for health care. Bystander intervention—training community members how to intervene when witnessing inappropriate behaviors—is a common approach for addressing harassment in school and military settings. We evaluated implementation of a VA harassment awareness and bystander intervention training that teaches health care staff how to identify and intervene in the harassment of women veteran patients.Participants included 180 VA staff, including both providers and administrative staff from one VA state health care system, who participated in harassment training during the first year of implementation. Pretest and post-test evaluation surveys included questions on acceptability of training length and relevance, staff experiences with harassment, perceptions of the training, and four short-term attitudinal outcomes: awareness of harassment, barriers to intervening, self-efficacy for intervening, and intentions to intervene.At pretest, most staff reported witnessing harassment, yet fewer than one-half had intervened. By post-test, staff reported significantly decreased barriers to intervening and increased awareness, self-efficacy, and intentions to intervene. Belief that harassment is a problem increased from 42.4% to 75.0%. The majority of staff found the training relevant and appropriate in length. Staff felt the most useful aspects of the training were learning how to intervene, group discussion, effective facilitation, and information on harassment.We found that a bystander approach was acceptable to health care staff and efficacious on short-term outcomes. Bystander intervention may be a promising strategy to address harassment among patients in medical facilities.

This curricular resource describes a university interprofessional education program involving small teams composed of one first year medical student, one to two first year masters of social work students, and one to two traditional or accelerated nursing students. Case discussions framed by IPE competencies take place in a facility on campus with activities to be used with senior volunteer mentors. The main objective of using the Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice 2011 is because students have limited knowledge of IPE collaborative practice and little exposure to geriatric populations. The format includes a blended learning environment to work in teams and debriefing before and after sessions and visits. Students are given pretest and posttest surveys and short reflective writing assignments throughout and at the end of the program. A majority of the students agree to strongly agree that knowledge of IPE increased, teamwork strengthened, and attitude toward seniors changed.

Protozoans of the family Opalinidae are intestinal commensals in amphibians. To test the hypothesis that these organisms are susceptible to the antiprotozoal antibiotic metronidazole, we randomly assigned 60 juvenile Woodhouse's toads ( Bufo woodhousii ) to receive a single oral dose of metronidazole or water. In pilot trials, the prevalence of opalinids in untreated members of this population was over 70%. One-third of the study population was dissected at each of 3 time points: 18 hr, 1 wk, and 2 wk post-treatment. An examiner blinded to the toad's treatment history determined the presence or absence of opalinids using a dissecting microscope. Opalinids were found in 3/10 toads in the treatment group and 9/10 in the control group after 18 hr (P < 0.02), in none of the treatment group and 8/10 in the control group after 1 wk (P < 0.001), and in none of the treatment group and 10/10 in the control group after 2 wk (P < 0.0001). These results suggest that a single-dose of metronidazole quickly and reliably clears opalinids from juvenile Woodhouse's toads with no evidence of short-term recurrence. The treatment was well tolerated, with no apparent morbidity and no mortality in either group. Future exploration of opalinid-related host fitness consequences may be facilitated by this simple method of developing a protozoan-free host population.

Protozoans of the family Opalinidae are intestinal commensals in amphibians. To test the hypothesis that these organisms are susceptible to the antiprotozoal antibiotic metronidazole, we randomly assigned 60 juvenile Woodhouse's toads (Bufo woodhousii) to receive a single oral dose of metronidazole or water. In pilot trials, the prevalence of opalinids in untreated members of this population was over 70%. One-third of the study population was dissected at each of 3 time points: 18 hr, 1 wk, and 2 wk post-treatment. An examiner blinded to the toad's treatment history determined the presence or absence of opalinids using a dissecting microscope. Opalinids were found in 3/10 toads in the treatment group and 9/10 in the control group after 18 hr (P < 0.02), in none of the treatment group and 8/10 in the control group after 1 wk (P < 0.001), and in none of the treatment group and 10/10 in the control group after 2 wk (P < 0.0001). These results suggest that a single-dose of metronidazole quickly and reliably clears opalinids from juvenile Woodhouse's toads with no evidence of short-term recurrence. The treatment was well tolerated, with no apparent morbidity and no mortality in either group. Future exploration of opalinid-related host fitness consequences may be facilitated by this simple method of developing a protozoan-free host population.

Abstract This resource features a series of interprofessional small-group exercises to explore students' perceptions of the other health professions. During this 3-hour session, groups also discuss the meaning of professional behavior and use the insights gained to develop a shared code of ethics. These codes are made available online so that students can compare their own group's results with other groups across campus. This activity can be scaled to include as many students as needed. Previous sessions have included over 450 students participating in 40–45 small groups. This campus-wide event prepares future health professionals for collaborative patient-centered practice by discussing shared values in ethical/professional behavior. It has been included in orientation week for 2 consecutive years. Students and faculty facilitators indicated on a postsurvey that they appreciated the small-group experience. Student indicated that the opportunity for communication and interaction with other health professions students was essential, rarely done in other forums, and very informative.