Creating an Online Interprofessional Collaborative Team Simulation to Overcome Common Barriers of Interprofessional Education

Introduction: Coordinating student schedules, physical space, and faculty time are commonly reported barriers to successful interprofessional education. Use of online technologies to overcome these barriers and support online team simulation is a topic that deserves serious academic review. Methods: The Interprofessional Plan of Care - Simulated E-hEalth Delivery System (IPOC-SEEDS) is a student-directed online simulation where students experience a collaborative plan of care meeting with simultaneous team electronic health record utilization. The authors describe the IPOC-SEEDS simulation to serve as a model for replication or modification. IPOC-SEEDS objectives address Interprofessional Education Collaborative competencies (IPEC), electronic health record (EHR) navigation, simulation effectiveness, and technology utilization. Results: Overall, IPOC-SEEDS objectives were effectively met through simulation evaluations, student-led debriefing evaluations, in-person student feedback, and faculty feedback results supporting the online simulation and technology evolutions. The objectives, based on IPEC and informatics competencies, were achieved. Students from nursing, nutrition, pharmacy, occupational therapy, and health information management participated in the simulation using EHR and online meeting software, receiving valuable interprofessional practice. Technology utilization results were adequate, but did improve in subsequent simulations after modifying the technology selected. Discussion: The simulation provided an experience where students demonstrated interprofessional collaborative skills that they can use in their future practice. Online technologies can provide a platform for the high-quality interprofessional simulation to address common interprofessional education barriers and provide access to interprofessional education for distance-learning students and providers. Online simulation developers (hospitals, health departments, universities) can use the authors’ process steps as a model for online simulation replication

Preventing Falls in Older Californians: State of the Art

In February 2003, the Foundation convened over 150 leaders in academic, legislative, community-based services, consumer advocates, aging network, housing, public health, public safety, and other leaders who worked for two days on a statewide blueprint on fall prevention.  In preparation for the convening, a Preconference White Paper was created and used to build the blueprint.  The California Blueprint describes state-of-the-art approaches to reducing the risks of falls, and the challenges to implementing fall prevention in California.  One of the top recommendations from this blueprint was the creation of a coordination center that could serve as a statewide resource and lead efforts in fall prevention.  This recommendation eventually led to the creation of the Fall Prevention Center of Excellence (FPCE)

Creating Livable Places: Sustainable Communities for All

Presentation from the 2006 Everyday Neighborhoods Workshop on September 21, 2006, Atlanta, Georgia.Session II: Creating Livable Places- Sustainable Communities for Al

Self-perceived occupational performance of community-dwelling adults living with stroke

Background. Stroke has long-term consequences for functional performance of daily activities. Evaluating client-perceived occupational performance provides insight for designing stroke-specific programs supporting home and community participation. Purpose. This study describes the personal characteristics and self-perceived occupational performance in community-dwelling adults with stroke. Method. A retrospective chart review was undertaken of 25 stroke survivors who sought services at a community-based centre. The outcome measures were the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) to evaluate self-perceived occupational performance and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) to screen for cognitive impairment. The analysis used descriptive statistics. Findings. Mean participant age was 64 years, and most participants were Caucasian males (72%). The mean cognitive function score was 22.1 on MoCA, and the mean COPM performance and satisfaction subscores were 4.1 and 3.9, respectively. The top three challenging daily activities were driving, seeking employment, and functional mobility. Implications. Stroke-specific community programs should emphasize the diverse performance concerns important to stroke survivors. </jats:sec

Perspectives of People with Dementia About Meaningful Activities

Qualitative studies were synthesized to describe perspectives of people with dementia regarding meaningful activities. Themes of connectedness were identified using a meta-ethnography approach. The theme of being connected with self encompasses engagement for continuity, health promotion, and personal time. The theme of being connected with others includes being with others not to feel alone, doing an activity with others, and meaningful relationships. The theme of being connected with the environment encompasses being connected to one’s familiar environment, community, and nature. This synthesis suggests that connectedness is an important motivation for engagement in daily activities. Findings indicate that identifying the underlying motivation for an individual with dementia to engage in different activities is important for matching a person with activities that will be satisfying. This review may inform the development of interventions for engaging people with dementia in meaningful, daily activities and creating connectedness to self, others, and the environment. </jats:p

Preparing a healthcare workforce for geriatrics care: an Interprofessional team based learning program

Abstract Background Improving the care of older adults in our healthcare system involves teams working together. As the geriatrics population rises globally, health science learners need to be prepared to work collaboratively to recognize and treat common conditions in geriatrics. To enable workforce preparation, the Institute of Medicine and the National League for Nursing emphasize the need to implement interprofessional active learning activities for undergraduate healthcare learners at academic medical centers. Methods The Geriatrics Champions Program was a team-based learning activity created to meet this task. It was a 24-month program, repeated twice, that impacted 768 learners and 151 faculty from medicine, occupational therapy, physical therapy, nursing, social welfare, psychology, pharmacy and dietetics. Each class was intentionally divided into 20 interprofessional teams that met four times annually. Each session focused on one geriatrics domain. The objectives were centered around the specific geriatrics competencies for each health profession, divided into the eight domains written in the “American Geriatrics Society IM-FM Residency Competencies”. Evaluation consisted of individual and team Readiness Assessment Tests (iRAT and tRAT). Surveys were also used to collect feedback using a Likert scale. Wilcoxon signed rank tests were used to compare iRAT and tRAT scores. Other analyses identified characteristics associated with tRAT performance group (Unpaired t-tests) and tRAT performance on the raw scale (Pearson correlation). Paired t-tests using a 7-level Likert Scale measured pre-post change in learner knowledge. Results Student tRAT scores were 30% higher than iRAT scores (p &lt; 0.001). Teams were more likely to score 100% on the initial tRAT attempt if more team members attended the current session (p &lt; 0.001), more health professions were represented by team members in attendance (p = 0.053), and the team had a better track record of past attendance (p &lt; 0.01). In the post-program evaluation, learners felt this program was helpful for their career preparation in interprofessional geriatrics care. Conclusions Learners understood that teams performed better than individuals in the care of older adults. Feedback from the learners and faculty was consistently positive and learners felt better prepared for geriatrics care. The program’s benefits may extend beyond individual sessions. </jats:sec