Interprofessional Post-Graduate Training Model for Nurse Practitioners and Physician Trainees

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Palliative Care
• Interprofessional Education

Background:

• Team-based hospice and palliative care (HPC) is crucial for high-quality end-of-life outcomes for patients with serious illness.
• Physicians and nurse practitioners (NPs) have overlapping scopes of practice in HPC, suggesting potential benefits from joint training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess clinical competencies in a post-graduate interprofessional training program for NPs and physicians.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of side-by-side training for enhancing clinician skills in HPC.

Main Methods:

• A crosswalk aligned NP and physician HPC competencies with evaluation questions.
• Faculty assessed trainees using these questions over 3 years at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months.
• Statistical analysis compared competency score changes, final scores, and improvement trajectories between NPs and physicians.

Main Results:

• No significant statistical differences were found in competency score changes, final scores, or improvement trajectories between physician and NP trainees.
• Trainees perceived the inclusion of NPs as a program strength.
• The addition of NP trainees did not impede physician competence development.

Conclusions:

• An interprofessional education (IPE) post-graduate training program in HPC can be effectively assessed using a shared clinical competency framework.
• NPs and physicians demonstrated comparable clinical gains within this integrated training model.
• This approach supports the development of a collaborative HPC workforce.