Chadley Uekman

Students Receive Interactive Welcome to Interprofessional Education

Shortly after classes began for the fall 2015 semester at UAMS, the Office of Interprofessional Education hosted 4 workshops for over 750 of the incoming students to introduce them to interprofessional education.

The new students, from all five UAMS colleges and the graduate school, received a first exposure to a focus on collaboration across professions. This is so important that it is now a graduation requirement for incoming students.

The initial workshop, which included multiple Ted-style talks and team-based activities, offered the opportunity for students to learn how to work collaboratively in teams. Team-based collaboration is essential for an outcome-focused transformation of health care.

Lee Wilbur, M.D., professor and vice chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine in the UAMS College of Medicine and director of the Office of Interprofessional Education, asserts that collaboration in health care is critical. Collaboration is necessary regardless of profession and whether it’s at the patient’s bedside, in the lab or in the classroom.

“The workshop allowed these new UAMS students to learn from, about, and with one another so that they model a culture of collaboration very early in their education,” Wilbur said. “Improving collaboration among health care professionals starts with interprofessional education and benefits our patients, their families and the communities we serve by providing the highest quality care possible.”

The workshop was phase one of a three-phase curriculum that connects interprofessional education to the Triple Aim — improving the patient experience, improving the health of the population and decreasing the cost of care. Each college has a road map for completing the curriculum and can choose the timing and implementation for students.

Wilbur said the curriculum will first expose students to the concepts of interprofessional care — its benefits and the processes involved. As students continue to learn together and expand their interprofessional understanding, they will participate in activities that promote stronger collaboration.

Interprofessional Education teams Improve Patient and Family Care through Medical Error Simulation

Imagine a medical, pharmacy, health professions, nursing and public health student walking into an exam room together and communicating with a patient’s family member about a medical error that has just occurred.

On May 6, over 70 learners from UAMS’ six colleges (medicine, pharmacy, nursing, public health, health professions and the graduate school) participated in the IPE pilot “Error Disclosure Simulation Event” which is a planned component of the IMMERSION phase for intermediate learners as part of the Interprofessional Education curriculum going into effect, at UAMS in the fall 2015.

In this event, interprofessional teams must disclose an error that has occurred. Teams work collaboratively and talk about their action plan, discuss their role and determine how they will tell the family member as a team about the error and how the patient was harmed. A standardized patient plays the role of a family member.

Each learner has a different approach and perspective to the case provided. Simulations help students understand how to work with other health providers in different fields and how to ask questions outside of their profession.

All teams returned to participate in a large group debriefing where two faculty facilitators led the learners and standardized patients through a structured discussion to highlight the importance of the interprofessional team as a model to conduct difficult conversations that are applicable to all professions. Evaluations indicate that the learners enjoyed the event and recognize that this experience will positively affect their future practice.

IPE Receives $150,000 from Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Blue & You Foundation to Expand Program

Feb. 9, 2015 |The UAMS Office of IPE announced a grant totaling $150,000 from Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield and its Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas. The grants will expand interprofessional education and collaborative practice for students at UAMS.

The grant to the UAMS Office of Interprofessional Education will fund development of a curriculum for interprofessional education, which occurs when students from two or more professions learn from, about and with one another to improve health outcomes. This fall the curriculum will become a graduation requirement for students in all UAMS colleges (Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health and the Graduate School) that will better prepare graduates to deliver care as part of a collaborative health care team.

“The Blue & You Foundation is pleased to continue its support of programs at UAMS that will have a direct impact on making Arkansas communities healthier,” said Patrick O’Sullivan, executive director of the Blue & You Foundation.

Founded in 1948, Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, is the largest health insurer in Arkansas. Arkansas Blue Cross and its affiliates have more than 2,500 employees.

Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield established the Blue & You Foundation in 2001 as a charitable foundation to promote better health in Arkansas. The Blue & You Foundation awards grants annually to nonprofit or governmental organizations and programs that positively affect the health of Arkansans.