Creation and Implementation of a Large-Scale Geriatric Interprofessional Education Experience

Area of Science:

• Geriatric Medicine
• Healthcare Education
• Interprofessional Collaboration

Background:

• Caring for older adults necessitates an interprofessional approach to address complex medical and social issues.
• Traditional educational structures often create silos, hindering the teaching of collaborative interprofessional practice.
• There is a national demand for innovative practice models utilizing collaborative interprofessional teams.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the number and types of students attending an interprofessional educational session on geriatric fall prevention.
• To document modifications made to the educational session using a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) rapid-cycle improvement model.
• To assess the feasibility of large-scale interprofessional education involving diverse learners and institutions.

Main Methods:

• Development and implementation of an interprofessional educational session focused on geriatric fall prevention.
• Utilized a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) model for iterative improvement of the educational session.
• Session evolved to include online self-study, in-person components, team simulations, and simulated patient experiences.

Main Results:

• A pilot session engaged 83 students from three institutions across nine disciplines.
• Subsequent sessions involved 719 students from ten schools representing thirteen healthcare disciplines.
• Survey data from 524 participants confirmed the broad reach and interprofessional nature of the training.

Conclusions:

• Large-scale interprofessional educational sessions are feasible and beneficial.
• Rapid-cycle improvement, multi-institutional collaboration, and curriculum flexibility are key to success.
• This model provides a scalable approach to training future healthcare professionals in interprofessional care for older adults.