tarting in the academic year 2020-21, CIPE initiated its Student Hotspotting project through participation in the Interprofessional Student Hotspotting Learning Collaborative. During this first year, four senior-level learners from medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, and pharmacy engaged virtually with a client/patient identified by the Barnes-Jewish Hospital (BJH) Stay Healthy Outpatient Program (SHOP) to address systemic barriers to health care, provide person-centered, trauma-informed care, and implement a guiding strategy to respond to their needs.
This year’s team will be doubled and divided in two so they can partner with two clients/patients each over the course of the academic year. Changes include adding learners from the Washington University (WashU) Master of Public Health Program and incorporating a WashU medicine resident as a coach.
Barbara Whitaker, DNP, MPH, BSN, RN, assistant professor at Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College, leads the effort, along with faculty advisers from each academic program:
- Dennis Chang, MD, Washington University School of Medicine
- Gloria Grice, PharmD, St. Louis College of Pharmacy at UHSP
- Haley Johnson, PharmD, St. Louis College of Pharmacy at UHSP
- Ragini Maddipati, MSW, MPH, Brown School of Social Work at Washington University
- Duana Russell-Thomas, MSOT, OTD, OTR/L, Washington University School of Medicine
- Barbara J. Whitaker, DNP, MPH, RN, Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College
“It’s been really incredible to watch a group of students with differing expertise form a deep connection around a common goal and become such great teammates,” says Grice, “and an honor to help them grow in their professional and interprofessional identities”.
“It was such a privilege to be involved in the pilot for Hotspotting,” says Whitaker, “Leading the interprofessional students and watching them excel was motivating. The collaboration between not only the students but the faculty advisors is what health care inspires to be!”
Possible student contributions include:
- Medicine: Help with medication reconciliation, perform physical exams, counsel about medical diagnoses, and treatment plans, assess if patient is ill and needs further care
- Nursing: Wound care, IV management, physical exam/care, nutrition, health promotion and disease education
- Occupational Therapy: Environment/safety, IADLs, ADLs, cognition/mood screening, mobility
- Pharmacy: Medication reconciliation, review all medications in home (expired, interactions), medication assistance (obtaining – cost, delivery), medication storage/disposal education, medication recommendations
- Public Health: Examine the big picture across all areas at the system level; Identify gaps or areas of improvement across program; provide information on public health impact of conditions; assessing health behavior and suggestions for health education (using already created materials or programming)
- Overlapping: Check vitals, looking for side effects/symptoms related to conditions, compliance, fall risk & other assessments/screenings, health education/literacy, community resources
Do you have an IPE activity or initial idea that you would like to add to the repository of the IPE activities on campus?
The Curriculum and Assessment Committee is indexing the IPE activities that exist outside of the Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education to provide support and connections to other programs if desired.
Example: Breathe Easy: Interprofessional Education Enhances Asthma-Related Knowledge
- Learners: Second-year pharmacy and medicine students participate in an interprofessional activity related to asthma management.
- Activity overview: IPE activity began with an individual quiz to assess baseline knowledge of asthma management and inhaler devices. Next, students in interprofessional groups discussed their respective curricula in general and then, more specifically, their asthma coursework. Groups proceeded through asthma-related cases and prompts to highlight the different expertise among professions. Medical students demonstrated the steps in a pulmonary physical exam and described lung sounds. Pharmacy students demonstrated inhaler device technique on placebo inhalers and described barriers to their use. Collaboratively, the students created a patient-specific, evidence-based plan to optimize the asthma management for a patient case, while facilitators from both professions were available for guidance throughout the activity. The last activity was an individual post-quiz to reassess students’ asthma and inhaler device knowledge.
- Read more about this example in the Fall 2019 CIPE Newsletter [ADD LINK]
Ashli Crull, fourth-year pharmacy student at STLCOP at UHSP, shares her experience interning with CIPE for five weeks this past summer.
I am Ashli Crull, a P4 at St. Louis College of Pharmacy (STLCOP) at the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy (UHSP). I did a 5-week Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) rotation with CIPE under the guidance of CIPE director Heather Hageman this summer. I was not sure what to expect on rotation as I only knew the STLCOP student perspective of interprofessional practice and how it fit into my curriculum. I was given a wide variety of projects to work on while with CIPE. Here is an overview of what I accomplished and participated in during my time.
During the first and second week of rotation, I helped finalize the 2021-2022 CIPE Annual Report, which introduced me to the many projects and partnerships CIPE has cultivated in the last academic year. CIPE’s biggest project is designing and implementing the Three-Phase IPE Curriculum. The experiences in the longitudinal IPE curriculum allow students from the seven CIPE partner programs to learn about, with, and from one another with client/patient health and outcomes in mind. With additional background gained attending a Curriculum Assessment Committee (CAC) meeting, I led the development of a more detailed graphic for the curriculum, which incorporates the number of learners from each CIPE program that participated in Phases I and II last year.
In my third week, I participated in VIPE, a virtual national IPE case discussion. This session focused on the different roles of each member of the health-care team and how knowing each profession’s roles can benefit the team as a whole, which in turn benefits the client/patient. I worked with an interprofessional team of students on a mock client/patient case and created a plan that would be most beneficial to the client/patient.
The last two weeks of my rotation focused on IPE 101, which is the foundational professional development workshop for all faculty and clinicians facilitating CIPE activities. The majority of my focus was on the first IPE 101 segment, where I helped cut and edit the presentation slides, created a handout to cover the omitted material, and designed an interactive game, which we played at the beginning of the session.
I was able to work side-by-side with many faculty members from the three schools associated with CIPE in the last five weeks and everyone made me feel like I was a part of the team. I hope the lessons I have learned will allow me to be an integral member of an interprofessional team in the near future.
What the Pandemic Has Taught Us About the Need for Racial Equity and Patient-Centered Care
COVID-19 taught us that systemic change is essential to improve health outcomes and access to resources for socioeconomically disadvantaged communities, as evident in the 2021 St. Louis Racial Equity Summit and the work of the National Association of Community Health Workers.
Two of the most striking panels at the summit focused on transforming St. Louis’ public safety system and dismantling white supremacy in the non-profit sector. A presentation titled “The Alternatives to the Carceral State – How to Transform St. Louis’ Public Safety System” presented how we can change our definition of public safety to better communities. As cities redefine what it means to be safe and accessible, we must be mindful of how money is spent and whose voice is heard when money is being distributed.
For many underserved communities, non-profit organizations help meet immediate needs and navigate complex health-care systems. During a panel discussion titled “Confronting White Supremacy in the Non-profit Sector,” attendees were encouraged to acknowledge that white supremacy and racism are embedded in organizational culture, policies, and practices. Organizations cannot be community-focused if their structure, funding, employment, and culture are white-centered and siloed from the communities they are said to help.
During their webinar on “Community Health Workers: Partners in the pursuit of equity, professional education, and pandemic response,” the role of Community Health Workers (CHWs) as liaisons between health and social services and communities was central. They facilitate access to services and improve the quality and cultural competency of service delivery. The ability of CHWs to address various social determinants of health that health professionals are often limited by has shown their ability to balance community needs with clinician care plans. CIPE’s partnership with the St. Louis Community Health Worker coalition is important in introducing future health professionals to the role of CHWs and the impact of Social Determinants of Health on wellness. By integrating racial equity and the practices of CHWs, CIPE can better prepare learners to work in interprofessional teams with a client/patient centered-focus.
By Torrie Real, WashU MPH candidate and CIPE AY21-22 intern
Embedding DEI into your curriculum — Sept. 7, 12-1 p.m., and Sept. 23, 4 – 5 p.m.
- In this workshop you will learn how Washington University School of Medicine integrated health equity and anti-racism content throughout the new MD curriculum, and practices and resources for introducing this content to early learners.
- Facilitated by Kaytlin Reedy-Rogier, MSW, and Audrey Coolman, MPH
Community Health Workers in a Primary Care Medicine Clinic — Oct. 14, 4 – 5 p.m., and Oct. 25, 12-1 p.m.
- The BJH Community Health Worker Program serves the vulnerable patients of the BJH Primary Care Medicine Clinic. The focus of this program is to address social determinants of health in hope of improving access to care, reduce re-admissions and connecting this patient population to resources available in the community.
- Facilitated by Christine Moorehead, RN, BSN, MBA, and CHWs Omega Key, Cynthia Tomas and James Johnson
Hotspotting: Interprofessional Student Teams with a Clinical Focus — Nov. 3, 4 – 5 p.m., and Nov. 11, 12 – 1 p.m.
- A team coach and a former student team member discuss CIPE’s Hotspotting program, now in its second year. Learn about this unique model and its implications for improving interprofessional collaboration and addressing health disparities in the community.
- Facilitated by Barbara Whitaker, DNP, MPH, RN, and Eliza Hendrix, OTD candidate
IPE 101 — Dec. 17, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
- In CIPE’s foundational workshop, learn about the IPE competencies and the emerging CIPE longitudinal curriculum through simulation, role-play, and videos. This experience allows you to gain knowledge about implicit bias, the stereotypes of professions, and the culture of teams, while practicing your facilitation and debriefing skills.
- Facilitated by the CIPE Professional Development Team
*Note all workshops are offered twice a month to accommodate various schedules — select just one offering per month. Registration link
I am really excited about Nexus Summit 2021 — our annual meeting grows every year, and this one is no different. We have again received an unprecedented number of abstract submissions from old friends and new colleagues as well as more volunteers as reviewers and planners. We will be using our More Than a Meeting™ virtual platform that was evaluated highly last year. I am particularly pleased that we are bringing back signature interactive features such as Nexus Fairs and the Conversation Cafés.
Your input during Nexus Summit 2020 was instrumental in helping us shape our strategic directions that form the basis of this year’s meeting. In addition to practical approaches for IPE that matter, we will be introducing and hosting discussions about ideas to carry beyond the Summit. We are able to link a number of efforts in the National Center to design the meeting, notably our paper commissioned for the National Academy of Medicine Future of Nursing 2020-2030 report and our new focus on the role of the social science of interprofessional practice and education led by Barret Michalec and Jim Ballard, who is the incoming chair of the American Health Interprofessional Collaborative. Let me explain.
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