Interprofessional Education Case Study
Opportunity
For decades, clinicians have been educated in silos, rarely interacting with people from other disciplines or professions. However, they are still expected to function as effective medical teams once they've graduated from their respective training programs, ready to communicate with clinicians they've never worked with before. As a result, industry organizations worldwide believe interprofessional education (IPE) is critical to improving health care.
Solution
From the earliest days, Jump Simulation leaders made the decision to focus its educational efforts on interprofessional education. That means Jump facilitators and faculty, including University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria professors and clinicians throughout OSF HealthCare, work together to develop courses tailored to team-based training. These teams typically include physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists and others.
Impact
More than 88,000 learners have participated in interprofessional education events at Jump. The organization now has a two-year certification from Joint Accreditation to provide continuing education credits for both professional physicians and nurses learning or training simultaneously. Joint Accreditation establishes the standards for education providers to deliver interprofessional continuing education (IPCE).
"Anytime we can bring teams of different clinicians together, we do. In fact, as we look to prioritize curriculum, a major factor is whether it supports team-based learning."
-Ann Willemsen-Dunlap, PhD, CNRA, director of Interprofessional Education at Jump
Teaching Professionals from Various Disciplines to Effectively Work Together
Study after study indicates poor communication among clinical teams is one of the leading causes of medical errors in the United States. One of the major reasons for this issue stems from the fact that physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, respiratory therapists and others are not only educated separately, they also receive much of their hands-on training without ever interacting with each other. However, they are still expected to function as effective medical teams once they've graduated from their respective training programs.
As a result, industry organizations worldwide suggest interprofessional education (IPE) and team-based learning are critical to improving health care. IPE occurs when learners of two or more health and/or social care professions engage in learning with, from and about each other to improve collaboration and the delivery of care, according to the Institute of Medicine.
Making IPE a Priority
From the earliest days, Jump Simulation leaders made the decision to focus its educational efforts on interprofessional education (IPE). That means Jump facilitators and faculty, including University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria professors and clinicians throughout OSF HealthCare, work together to develop courses tailored to team-based training. These teams typically include physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists and others. This work has been enhanced with the development of the $2.4 million Hassie Rutherford Endowment for the Forest Park Foundation which funds projects making significant advances in IPE.
More than 88,000 learners have participated in interprofessional education events at Jump. Many of these activities are demonstrating value for OSF HealthCare and improving outcomes across the organization.
For example, Jump faculty incorporated Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety - or TeamSTEPPS® - into certain curricula at Jump to improve the survival rate of patients who've undergone CPR at OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality developed this evidence-based set of tools to improve communication and teamwork skills among health care professionals. The idea is to not only provide safe, quality and world-class care, but to help improve patient outcomes as well.
About 1,200 clinicians were trained over a nine-month period to use the TeamSTEPPS® Key Principles and tools during their simulation "code blue" mandatory training. The results after this training were substantial. Patients safely discharged from the hospital following a cardiac arrest increased by more than 20 percent.
Jump also continues to train interprofessional teams through in situ simulations where health care professionals get to practice life-like medical scenarios in their own clinical environments. Performing in situs in regional hospitals can provide insight into how medical employees are working and communicating as teams to solve problems. They also help clinicians determine if they have all the equipment they need in an emergency and if those supplies are in an easily accessible place.
The on-site simulations have been welcomed by staff across the Ministry, leading to re-designs in workflows, organizational improvements and positive changes in culture.
Jump Simulation: a Leader in IPE
Based on the many team-based curricula Jump offers, Joint Accreditation approved the simulation center for a two-year certification to provide continuing education (CE) credits for both professional physicians and nurses learning or training simultaneously. Joint Accreditation, a collaboration of three accrediting councils, establishes the standards for education providers to deliver interprofessional continuing education (IPCE) planned by the health care team for the health care team.
"Our realistic, interprofessional simulations are designed to bring out the best in teams. Having the ability to bestow credit for that work is really important to the professionals we serve."
- John Vozenilek, MD, Vice President, Chief Medical Officer for Innovation & Digital Health
Receiving the Joint Accreditation certification also provides a framework for faculty and clinical educators from University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria (UICOMP) and OSF HealthCare to ensure the learning objectives of their curricula are designed to meet the educational needs of all clinicians participating in a simulation or clinical course.
The initial focus will be to serve professional physicians and nurses within OSF HealthCare in 2018. The eventual goal is to expand team-based training to include pharmacists and then reach learners outside of OSF HealthCare through online interactive programs.
Leaders within Jump say the new accreditation will be complimentary to the continuing medical education services UICOMP provides. The course offerings will be posted on the Jump Simulation website.