An emulation model in critical thinking used to develop learning outcomes in inter professional practice.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Education
• Interprofessional Collaboration
• Patient Outcomes

Background:

• Interprofessional education (IPE) and interprofessional practice (IPP) are crucial for comprehensive patient care.
• A significant gap exists in consistent learning outcomes for IPE, hindering effective patient care.
• Developing standardized learning outcomes is essential to improve patient outcomes in interprofessional settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and implement an interprofessional education learning outcome using emulation concepts.
• To create a model where expert thought processes become learning outcomes, guides, and assessment tools.
• To address the inconsistency in IPE learning outcomes and enhance their practical application.

Main Methods:

• Applied emulation concepts from education literature to derive expert thought processes as learning outcomes.
• Collected key questions from interprofessional team members (primary care, pharmacy, nursing, social work, nutrition, dentistry).
• Implemented the derived learning outcome in patient planning within a geriatric/special needs clinic.

Main Results:

• Students were more likely to utilize questions from disciplines with prior didactic instruction (primary care, pharmacy, nutrition, dentistry).
• Application of questions from nursing and social work disciplines was less frequent.
• The student-led exercise demonstrated the model's viability in guiding learning and assessing performance.

Conclusions:

• The emulation-based model shows promise for guiding interprofessional education and assessing performance.
• The learning outcome effectively translates to performance outcomes for practitioners.
• Further development and comparison with existing models are necessary for broader application.