Interprofessional Education and Practice
Interprofessional Education and Practice
Overview
Health professionals globally have identified that interprofessional collaboration is key to the delivery of safe and effective patient-centered care. Growing from its commitment to educate clinicians prepared to help lead change in this direction, the Institute has developed an enhanced interprofessional curriculum — the IMPACT Practice.
IMPACT Practice engages students in a series interprofessional courses and activities in which they learn with, from, and about one another. Learning activities are designed to facilitate student development of Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice as defined by the Interprofessional Education Collaborative. The four competency domains are: values and ethics, interprofessional communication, teams/teamwork, and roles and responsibilities.
The goal of IMPACT Practice is to collaborate with the Institute’s programs to prepare graduates to function effectively as members of interprofessional collaborative teams and lead the change that will positively impact the systems in which they practice and every patient and client they encounter.
IMPACT Description
IMPACT Practice is a required component of all Institute entry-level graduate programs. Students receive their first introduction to IMPACT Practice during orientation when they participate in a common reading through which they begin to discuss the person and family/support system at the center of the care they will provide. Then, starting in their first fall semester, students enroll in three one-credit interprofessional courses integrated into their programs of study.
Starting in their first semester, students enroll in three one-credit interprofessional courses that are integrated into their programs of study. Working in interprofessional teams and guided by expert faculty, students learn foundational collaborative skills to enhance safe, quality, and equitable care.
HP818: IMPACT I: Through a variety of experiential learning activities designed to promote team-based analysis, problem-solving, and solution-oriented thinking, students develop foundational knowledge of the core competencies for interprofessional collaborative practice. These include:
- Effective communication
- Team-based care
- Roles and responsibilities
- Values and ethics
Also embedded in this course is Community IMPACT Day, where students, faculty, and staff, regardless of role, rank, or discipline work together in teams to support identified needs of community agencies and partner sites.
HP819: IMPACT II: With an emphasis on quality and safety, student teams build on the foundational knowledge established in IMPACT I and develop their skills through a series of interprofessional opportunities to support application to practice. These include:
- Team-based simulations
- Case-based discussions
- Engagement with community health mentors
HP821: IMPACT III: Values and ethics are core components of interprofessional collaborative practice. Led by a group of faculty clinicians with ethics expertise, IMPACT III helps students dive more deeply into this important area of clinical practice and learn the skills necessary to ensure patients receive equitable, client-centered care. Skills addressed include:
- Practical, solution-oriented approach to ethical dimensions of practice
- Ethical decision-making models
Community IMPACT Day
The MGH Institute has always played an active role in helping those in our local and global communities, and at the beginning of every academic year, our commitment to serve is reflected in a traditional day of service. This important annual event, affectionately known as Community IMPACT Day, is embedded into the IMPACT I course curriculum, and enables students, faculty, and staff, regardless of role, rank, or discipline to work together in teams and support the identified needs of community agencies and partner sites. Past service projects include:
- Creating educational sessions or resources for seniors in the community, such as fall prevention tips and stress management strategies.
- Community enrichment for local organizations, such as The Appalachian Mountain Club and Charlestown Community Center.
- Addressing the physical and emotional needs of families and children through volunteer organizations, such as Cradles to Crayons, Project Linus, and The Ronald MacDonald House.
- Conducting leisure and wellbeing activities with local children at Harvard Kent Elementary School and the Kennedy Center.
Schwartz Educational Rounds
In 2003 the MGH Institute became the first school in the country to initiate Kenneth B. Schwartz Center Educational Rounds, a multidisciplinary forum where the next generation of caregivers discuss difficult emotional and social issues that arise in caring for patients.
The Kenneth B. Schwartz Center promotes pioneering programs to educate, train and support caregivers in the art of compassionate care. The Center was created in 1995 by health care attorney Kenneth Schwartz shortly before he died of lung cancer at the age of 40.
The educational "Rounds" format provides students, faculty, alumni, and staff with an opportunity to engage in interprofessional dialogue on important issues that advance a compassionate approach to patient care. Participants are invited to engage in self-reflections and reflective dialogue with their peers.
Ann W. Caldwell President's Lecture: Interprofessional Rounds
The Caldwell Rounds are an annual event in which second-year students in the entry-level graduate programs come together to hear successful examples of how clinical teams collaborate to provide patient-centered care.
Named after the MGH Institute’s fourth president (1997–2007), the lecture is intended to reinforce the school’s mission to prepare health professionals to advance care for a diverse society.
Simulation
The Simulation Lab provides experiences in four simulation rooms, each equipped with a control room and live video feeds and capture. Simulation rooms replicate functioning acute-care inpatient rooms, labor and delivery settings, ambulatory practice exam rooms, and home environments. More than two dozen interactive simulation manikins, including birthing, infant, pediatric, and 3G SimMan adult manikins, allow you to get hands-on practice in a simulated real-world environment. Trained actors or simulated participants (SPs) provide practice in managing human engagement aspects of care delivery in busy practice settings.
The Simulated Participant (SP) Program at MGH Institute of Health Professions provides a dynamic educational resource to enhance all facets and levels of health professional training. SPs are employed extensively across the entire scope of the MGH Institute programs. SPs participate in Interprofessional Education (IPE) scenarios and training sessions – they may play the role of a patient or family member as they interact with a healthcare team. SPs may participate in clinical assessment, Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs), motivational interviewing sessions, and history, and physical practice sessions, among other activities. Since the spectrum is so broad, extensive training and sharp skills are necessary to succeed as a Simulated Participant.