Abstract

Providing optimal healthcare requires an interprofessional (IP) team-based approach. For patients and families with special healthcare needs, increased complexity and frequency of care necessitates extensive collaboration amongst all providers. Unfortunately, many patients and their families routinely experience barriers to optimal healthcare services. The World Health Organization reports obstacles deterring optimal care to those with special needs frequently including “lack of clinical leadership, lack of responsiveness of the health authorities at local and national level, and competition between specialties for pre-eminence in the field.” (WHO Report, 2000)

Our team was faced with the challenge and goal of constructing a virtual learning environment in which students from eight different healthcare fields (Physical Therapy, Medicine, Dentistry, Occupational Therapy, Social Work, Nursing, Speech Pathology, and Psychology) could collaboratively discuss and acquire knowledge regarding the comprehensive care of patients with special healthcare needs and their families.

To achieve this objective, we are developing a web-based, student-driven, faculty-guided, evidence-based course focused upon the IP collaboration and care needed for patients with developmental conditions and their families.

A case-based teaching methodology is being employed to provide students with essential contextual information regarding the “patient” and their family. Faculty mentors from each disciple participate in the course with their students. Students and faculty are provided a list of questions and topics to research, review, observe, and discuss. To aid students and faculty-mentors in locating and sharing evidence-based information, services of a reference librarian have been integrated into the course. The librarian serves as a conduit for comprehensive database searches pertaining to successful clinical treatment modalities as well as relevant background information. After thorough discussion and review, appropriate literature and educational materials are uploaded to the web-platform. For students able to observe related and relevant clinical procedures, reflections of experiences are shared with course participants for further discussion.

Once all material pertaining to the current stage of the case has been shared, the course directors provide new information regarding the “patient” as the next age frame in their life progresses“ including plot twists, medical changes and familial challenges. Students once again discuss how their profession will react and interact the family and patient. This is repeated until the “patient” reaches adult years. At which point the next case is begun.

With such a methodology, students “take” the course via creating the content for the course. As Case #1 is completed, additional and/or new students from each field begin Case #2 in a similar format. At any point, completed cases are available to be reviewed, discussed, and leveraged for future IP learning experiences.

Our flipped-classroom (Chen, Lui, Martinelli, 2017) (Tan, Yue, Fu, 2017), evidence-based, case-based teaching collaboratory allows students from each involved profession to participate in a leadership role while learning about the care of those with special healthcare needs. Whether participants are from different classes, disciplines, professions, or universities, the proposed endeavor has the potential to benefit any collaborative effort in not only healthcare, but across the basic sciences, business, and liberal arts.

Objectives

• Patients and families with special healthcare needs face barriers in communication and navigation in healthcare systems
• The proposed flipped-classroom virtual learning experience uses a creative evidence-based, case-based teaching modality to promote the development of leadership in and knowledge of the interprofessional care for patients and families with special healthcare needs.
• The collaboratory enables students and faculty from multiple professions to work together on planning, implementing and evaluating a variety of interprofessional learning experiences.

Presenters

Allison Shorten, UAB School of Nursing; Office of Interprofessional Curriculum
Dr. Allison Shorten is the Director of the Office of Interprofessional Curriculum (OIPC) at UAB, and Professor in the School of Nursing. Dr. Shorten has over 25 years of experience as an educator and researcher in nursing and healthcare, and currently provides leadership in design, implementation and evaluation of interprofessional (IP) curriculum at UAB. She has expertise in the design and delivery of eLearning products, professional development programs, faculty training for promoting IP teamwork in healthcare, curriculum implementation strategies and evaluation techniques for IP education.

David A. Cruz Walma, UAB School of Dentistry
David A. Cruz Walma completed a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering at UAB in 2015 and is currently a third year dental student at UAB. Upon completing dental school and a one-year fellowship at the NIH, David plans on completing a PhD/Masters Residency program and stay affiliated with a University and Hospital to teach, continue research, and care for patients. David hopes to aid in promoting interprofessional teamwork and leadership in healthcare throughout his academic years.