Development of an interprofessional clinical learning environment report card.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Nursing Education
• Interprofessional Collaboration

Background:

• Shared learning environments for graduate nursing and medical students present unique challenges.
• A need exists for structured processes to evaluate and improve these interprofessional clinical learning environments.
• Existing assessment tools may not adequately address the complexities of collaborative graduate health education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the development and implementation of an interdisciplinary, institutional collaborative.
• To introduce the Interprofessional Clinical Learning Environment Report Card (I-CLERC) as a novel assessment tool.
• To establish a framework for ongoing evaluation and improvement of the shared clinical learning environment.

Main Methods:

• Formation of an interprofessional collaborative group involving nursing and medical faculty and students.
• Development of the Interprofessional Clinical Learning Environment Report Card (I-CLERC) as a standardized assessment instrument.
• Implementation of the I-CLERC within a U.S. academic medical center for evaluating the shared clinical learning environment.

Main Results:

• The I-CLERC provides a process and product for institutionalizing shared assessment.
• It facilitates tracking progress and promoting accountability in the clinical learning environment.
• The collaborative approach enhanced interprofessional engagement in defining and monitoring educational excellence.

Conclusions:

• The Interprofessional Clinical Learning Environment Report Card (I-CLERC) is an effective tool for evaluating and improving shared graduate nursing and medical education environments.
• Institutionalizing such collaborative assessment fosters accountability and drives continuous quality improvement.
• Interprofessional collaboration is key to defining and achieving excellence in clinical learning settings.