Carole Steketee

Competencies and frameworks in interprofessional education: a comparative analysis.

Health professionals need preparation and support to work in collaborative practice teams, a requirement brought about by an aging population and increases in chronic and complex diseases. Therefore, health professions education has seen the introduction of interprofessional education (IPE) competency frameworks to provide a common lens through which disciplines can understand, describe, and implement team-based practices. Whilst an admirable aim, often this has resulted in more confusion with the introduction of varying definitions about similar constructs, particularly in relation to what IPE actually means. The authors explore the nature of the terms competency and framework, while critically appraising the concept of competency frameworks and competency-based education. They distinguish between competencies for health professions that are profession specific, those that are generic, and those that may be achieved only through IPE. Four IPE frameworks are compared to consider their similarities and differences, which ultimately influence how IPE is implemented. They are the Interprofessional Capability Framework (United Kingdom), the National Interprofessional Competency Framework (Canada), the Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice (United States), and the Curtin University Interprofessional Capability Framework (Australia). The authors highlight the need for further discussion about establishing a common language, strengthening ways in which academic environments work with practice environments, and improving the assessment of interprofessional competencies and teamwork, including the development of assessment tools for collaborative practice. They also argue that for IPE frameworks to be genuinely useful, they need to augment existing curricula by emphasizing outcomes that might be attained only through interprofessional activity.

Interprofessional health education in Australia: Three research projects informing curriculum renewal and development

PURPOSE This paper reports on three interrelated Australian studies that provide a nationally coherent and evidence-informed approach to interprofessional education (IPE). Based on findings from previous studies that IPE tends to be marginalized in mainstream health curriculum, the three studies aspired to produce a range of resources that would guide the sustainable implementation of IPE across the Australian higher education sector. METHOD Nine national universities, two peak industry bodies and a non-government organization constituted the study team. Data were gathered via a mixture of stakeholder consultations, surveys and interviews and analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods. RESULTS & CONCLUSION An important outcome was a curriculum renewal framework which has been used to explore the implications of the studys findings on Australian nursing. While the findings are pertinent to all health professions, nursing is well placed to take a leading role in establishing IPE as a central element of health professional education.

Health LEADS Australia and Interprofessional Education

Modern health services are amongst the most complex systems in the world and this complexity places huge demands on those identified as leaders. The image of the individual trailblazing leader, much valued in the business world, has also been pervasive within healthcare environments in Australia and beyond (Fulop and Day, 2010). This model focuses on the capacity-building of individuals as leaders so that they take on a mantle of heroic characteristics and traits, managing teams, juggling budgets and driving development of service policies and proce-dures. The emphasis is on one individual to manage the organizational challenges of an entire service or team, the hero-leader, the one person at the top of a hierarchy who works alone to take his/her followers to new heights (Dickson and Tholl, 2014).

Systematic Review of Pain Medicine Content, Teaching, and Assessment in Medical School Curricula Internationally

IntroductionPain management is a major health care challenge in terms of the significant prevalence of pain and the negative consequences of poor management. Consequently, there have been international calls to improve pain medicine education for medical students. This systematic review examines the literature on pain medicine education at medical schools internationally, with a particular interest in studies that make reference to: a defined pain medicine curriculum, specific pain medicine learning objectives, dedicated pain education modules, core pain topics, medical specialties that teach pain medicine, elective study opportunities, hours allocated to teaching pain medicine during the curriculum, the status of pain medicine in the curriculum (compulsory or optional), as well as teaching, learning, and assessment methods.MethodsA systematic review was undertaken of relevant studies on pain medicine education for medical students published between January 1987 and May 2018 using PubMed, Medline, Excerpta Medica database (EMBASE), Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), and Google Scholar, and Best Evidence Medical Education (BEME) data bases.ResultsFourteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Evaluation of pain medicine curricula has been undertaken at 383 medical schools in Australia, New Zealand, the United States of America (USA), Canada, the United Kingdom (UK), and Europe. Pain medicine was mostly incorporated into medical courses such as anaesthesia or pharmacology, rather than presented as a dedicated pain medicine module. Ninety-six percent of medical schools in the UK and USA, and nearly 80% of medical schools in Europe had no compulsory dedicated teaching in pain medicine. On average, the median number of hours of pain content in the entire curriculum was 20 in Canada (2009), 20 in Australia and New Zealand (2018), 13 in the UK (2011), 12 in Europe (2012/2013), and 11 in the USA (2009). Neurophysiology and pharmacology pain topics were given priority by medical schools in all countries. Lectures, seminars, and case-based instruction were the teaching methods most commonly employed. When it was undertaken, medical schools mostly assessed student competency in pain medicine using written examinations rather than clinical assessments.ConclusionsThis systematic review has revealed that pain medicine education at medical schools internationally does not adequately respond to societal needs in terms of the prevalence and public health impact of inadequately managed pain.

Using a Community of Practice to Increase Leadership Capacity in Non-Traditional Settings for Interprofessional Student Learning

Virtually all educational programmes for health professionals involve work-based or practice-based learning experiences, often referred to as clinical or professional practice placements. In Australia, professional accrediting bodies mandate either that a minimum number of practice based hours must be completed prior to graduation or that students must attain a range of clinical/professional competencies that can only be achieved by prolonged exposure to practice-based learning environments.

Clinical audit project in undergraduate medical education curriculum: an assessment validation study

Objectives To evaluate the merit of the Clinical Audit Project (CAP) in an assessment program for undergraduate medical education using a systematic assessment validation framework. Methods A cross-sectional assessment validation study at one medical school in Western Australia, with retrospective qualitative analysis of the design, development, implementation and outcomes of the CAP, and quantitative analysis of assessment data from four cohorts of medical students (2011- 2014). Results The CAP is fit for purpose with clear external and internal alignment to expected medical graduate outcomes. Substantive validity in students’ and examiners’ response processes is ensured through relevant methodological and cognitive processes. Multiple validity features are built-in to the design, planning and implementation process of the CAP. There is evidence of high internal consistency reliability of CAP scores (Cronbach’s alpha > 0.8) and inter-examiner consistency reliability (intra-class correlation>0.7). Aggregation of CAP scores is psychometrically sound, with high internal consistency indicating one common underlying construct. Significant but moderate correlations between CAP scores and scores from other assessment modalities indicate validity of extrapolation and alignment between the CAP and the overall target outcomes of medical graduates. Standard setting, score equating and fair decision rules justify consequential validity of CAP scores interpretation and use. Conclusions This study provides evidence demonstrating that the CAP is a meaningful and valid component in the assessment program. This systematic framework of validation can be adopted for all levels of assessment in medical education, from individual assessment modality, to the validation of an assessment program as a whole.

Utilizing curriculum renewal as a way of leading cultural change in Australian health professional education

Health systems globally are engaged with major reforms focused on the need to deliver more responsive, effective and sustainable health services. Interprofessional practice (IPP), and the development of interprofessional educational (IPE) targeted at enabling IPP, sit at the heart of many of these reforms. IPP enabled by IPE could be argued as the practice foundation for achieving new and more effective forms of health service provision and health professional practice (World Health Organization, 2010; Gittell et al., 2013).