INTERPROFESSIONAL GERIATRICS CASE COMPETITION FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONS STUDENTS

Abstract

Background: Health professions students often learn in silos, reinforcing negative hidden hierarchies, uni-disciplinary care, and fragmented communication. A tenet of geriatrics, team-based interprofessional (IP) care improves outcomes. We adapted an established case competition program from A.T. Still University to bring together students from nine health professions at four universities to design a comprehensive care plan for a simulated case. Objectives were to meet IPEC core competencies for interprofessional teamwork. Method: Complex geriatric cases (dementia, elder abuse) were modified to represent regional patient needs. Students from 4 local universities were recruited to participate in the case competition. Participant professions included medicine, nursing, physical/occupational/speech therapy, nutrition and dietetics, social work, medical family therapy, and dental. Students were assigned to interprofessional teams of 4-5 with a faculty mentor and attended an orientation session. One month later, teams gave a 20-minute presentation to a panel of faculty judges, followed by a 10-minute question/answer period. Team presentations were scored on a rubric based on six sub-competencies for IP collaborative practice. Results: Teams overall scored highest on 1) ability to identify patient and family as part of the care team, 2) description of the expected roles and contributions of each involved profession, including identification of a “care manager” to ensure team functioning, 3) use of humanistic language, 4) identification of appropriate interventions and resources to address the patient's needs, and 5) presentation skills. Students rated experiences high on a 5-point scale of poor to good (high) with 94% of participants reporting they would recommend the experience to others. Judge/mentor/student evaluations indicated students learned group dynamics, team-based care, and geriatric care principles. Conclusion: An IP case simulation is an effective way to meet core competencies for collaborative practice. Further research is warranted to evaluate the long-standing effect of such a simulation on post-training practice habits.