Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education Intervention Guideline Series: Guideline 4, Interprofessional Education

Comparing Expectations: How Pharmacy Students View Physician Assistant and Medical Students

PURPOSE

The aim of this prospective, perception scale study was to evaluate pharmacy student expectations and perceptions of student medical providers before and after interprofessional education (IPE).

METHODS

Using pre- and postactivity surveys, the expectations and perceptions of 2 cohorts of third-year pharmacy students who worked with first-year physician assistant (PA) students and second-year medical (MD) students in an evidence-based, case-based IPE session were compared.

RESULTS

Before engaging in the interprofessional activities, the pharmacy students' (N = 131) expectations were either similar for both student provider groups or greater for MD students. However, these expectations differed significantly from postactivity perceptions. After completion of the IPE experiences, when compared with MD students, PA students were perceived as having equal or greater knowledge of patient care (60.2 vs. 12%, P < .001), demonstrating equal or superior application of evidence-based practice (46.6 vs. 5.3%, P < .001), being equally or more collaborative (54.1 vs. 10.5%, P < .001), and being equally easy or easier to work with (69.9 vs. 10.5%, P < .001).

CONCLUSION

The magnitude of shift in expectations and perceptions demonstrates the value of IPE and underscores the high caliber of PA educational standards.

Outcomes Standardisation Project (OSP) for Continuing Medical Education (CE/CME) Professionals: Background, Methods, and Initial Terms and Definitions

Despite an increased focus and urgency for CE/CME professionals to effectively and systematically assess the impact of their educational interventions, the community has struggled to do so. This struggle is in large part due to the lack of a standardised outcomes language and a set of unified approaches to measure and communicate impact. In the spring of 2018, a group of volunteer educational research scientists and CE/CME professionals established a rigorous consensus-building process in an effort to address this need. This report describes the background, methods and first-year output (Glossary V1) of the Outcomes Standardisation Project (OSP); begins to introduce examples of how the OSP Glossary V1 may support the CE/CME professional community and concludes with plans for the future of establishing a common framework for the profession.

A scoping review of interprofessional education within Canadian nursing literature

The purpose of this scoping review is to examine the nature of the interprofessional education (IPE) discussion that the Canadian nursing profession is having within the Canadian peer-reviewed nursing literature. An electronic database search of CINAHL was conducted using a modified Arksey & O'Malley scoping review framework. Peer-reviewed, English-language articles published in Canadian nursing journals from January 1981 to February 2016 were retrieved. Articles were included if they discussed IPE, or described an educational activity that met our conceptual definition of IPE. A total of 88 articles were screened, and 11 articles were eligible for analysis. Analysis revealed that this body of literature does not seem to be purposefully engaging Canadian nurses in a critical discourse about the role of IPE. The majority of articles located were reflective or commentaries. At the time of this review, there was a paucity of theoretically informed empirical research articles on IPE in the nursing literature. While IPE may be viewed by some critical scholars as a means of shifting the control of healthcare delivery traditionally held by medicine to other professions, our results suggest that this may not be the case in the Canadian nursing profession.

Terminology in Continuing Education: A Hybrid Methodology for Improving the Use and Reporting of Interventions in Continuing Education

Researchers and leaders working in quality improvement and continuing education have a variety of interventions available to change clinician behavior and to improve patient outcomes. Evidence from systematic reviews and meta-analyses of such interventions is often mixed, with methodological weaknesses contributing to challenges in summarizing and interpreting evidence. Confusion and inconsistency surrounding many of the terms contributes to this challenge. This international study was commissioned by the Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education to use expert opinion to improve the consistency of important educational terminology by describing the essential components of a set of educational interventions, such as educational meetings. This article will describe how this project uses the literature and an expert consensus process to improve precision around the conceptualization and implementation of educational interventions. This article will offer an in-depth description of a hybrid methodology that blends the Chaffee framework for concept explication with a modified Delphi technique that constitutes a novel expert consensus process. This article concludes with recommendations for other scholars replicating this process.