Maria Clay

The status of interprofessional education and interprofessional prevention education in academic health centers: a national baseline study.

Purpose Given the emphasis on prevention in U.S. health care reform efforts, the importance of interprofessional education (IPE) that prepares health professions students to be part of effective health care teams is greater than ever. This study examined the prevalence and nature of IPE and interprofessional (IP) prevention education in U.S. academic health centers. Method The authors extracted a 10-item survey from the longer published IPE Assessment and Planning Instrument. In September 2010, they sent the survey to 346 health professions leaders in health sciences schools and colleges at 100 academic health centers. These institutions were identified via the online membership list of the Association of Academic Health Centers. The authors conducted descriptive statistical analysis and cross-tabulations. Results Surveys were completed by 127 contacts at 68 universities in 31 states and the District of Columbia. IPE was more prevalent than IP prevention education in all categories of measurement. Respondents affirmed existence of IPE in courses (85.0%) and in clinical rotations/internships (80.3%). The majority reported personnel with responsibility for IPE (68.5%) or prevention education (59.8%) at their institutional unit, and 59.8% reported an IPE office or center. Conclusions This study provides evidence that IPE and IP prevention education exist in academic health centers, but additional attention should be paid to the development of IP prevention education. Sample syllabi, job descriptions, and policies may be available to support adoption of IPE and IP prevention education. Further effort is needed to increase the integration of IP and prevention education into practice.

Learner-centered characteristics of nurse educators.

The purpose of this study was to describe the learner-centered teaching characteristics of nurse faculty who report using contemporary pedagogy. A secondary analysis of data collected by an international survey of nurse educators regarding pedagogical teaching approaches and strategies was used to answer the research questions.The study sought to: 1) describe characteristics emerging from faculty response, 2) make inferences from faculty responses regarding meaning, and 3) make inferences regarding the importance of the meaning to nursing.A qualitative research design was used to address the research question. Themes that emerged were placed under the concepts of power, role of teacher, responsibility of learner, and philosophy of evaluation guided by Weimers (2002) conceptual framework of a learner-centered philosophy of teaching. Themes and meaning units derived from the study helped to generate textual and structure statements that represent the characterizations of learner-centered nurse educators.

Leadership styles in interdisciplinary health science education

The US Institute of Medicine recommends that all health professionals should deliver patient-centered care as members of interdisciplinary health science teams. The current application of the Bolman and Deal Leadership model to health sciences provides an interesting point of reference to compare leadership styles. This article reviews several applications of that model within academic health care and the aggregate recommendations for leaders of health care disciplines based on collective findings.

Applying adult education principles to the design of a preceptor development program

For interprofessional health care teams to become realities, students must learn new team paradigms and have greater understanding of multiple disciplines. Collaboration must start early and be reinforced in clinical training environments. In recent years, this interdisciplinary learning has taken place in settings away from universities as greater emphasis is placed on community-based health care training. This shift necessitates greater emphasis on preceptor development programs. To be effective, preceptor development programs must be designed on educational principles aimed at maximizing learning for adults. In this article, we discuss four educational principles: developing programs on perceived participant needs; repeating material and sequencing material logically for greater ease of learning; anchoring new material in experiential learning and past experiences; and providing a safe and supportive learning environment. Second, we present a description of how these principles were incorporated in the...

Evaluating the Use of a Multimedia Approach to Teaching Nutrition in Medical School

Abstract Barriers to medical students receiving nutrition education exist and use of multimedia programs has been suggested as one solution. However, evaluation strategies to determine the effectiveness of this approach are lacking. The experience of 140 medical students using a nutrition multimedia program and the strategies used to assess student attitudes toward this independent learning strategy are reported. Their performance in counseling standardized patients after studying the program was evaluated. The use of multimedia technology to provide appropriate physician role models teaching nutrition assessment and counseling has promise.

Using Clinical Skills Exams to Evaluate Medical Student Skills in Prevention

BACKGROUND In 2006, the Brody School of Medicine Regional Medicine-Public Health Education Center integrated the teaching of prevention into the curriculum for first-, second-, and third-year medical students. PURPOSE The purpose of this article is to report on the use of clinical skills exams (CSEs) in the evaluation of prevention health instruction for the period 2006-2010. METHODS Two CSEs were employed to measure preventive skills at the end of the third year of medical school. CSE-1 was a woman aged 56 years with knee pain. The outcome measure is the percentage of students asking three or more prevention history items. CSE-2 was a boy, aged 15 years, undergoing a sports physical/preventive screening. The outcome measure is the number of prevention items queried. RESULTS For CSE-1, the percentage of students who met the outcome measure increased to 83% in 2010 as compared to 62% in both 2009 and 2007. The improvement between 2007 and 2010 was significant with a p=0.0080 (Fishers exact test). Of the 64 students taking the third-year medical student objective structured clinical examination-2 in June 2009, the greatest number queried the following preventive items: exercise (98%), alcohol misuse (98%), drug use (98%), school and grades (98%), sexual activity (98%), and tobacco use (97%). CONCLUSIONS By integrating prevention elements into CSE cases, the results are useful for student assessment and may be a powerful influence on curricular design, leading to an increase in prevention content.

Descriptive Metaevaluation Case Study of an Interdisciplinary Curriculum

This article describes an example of metaevaluation in an educational setting. The metaevaluation examined an evaluation of a community-based, interdisciplinary curriculum. The Program Evaluation Standards (PES), divided into the categories of utility, feasibility, propriety, and accuracy, provided a framework for the metaevaluation. Utility standards address the information needs of intended users. Feasibility refers to the extent to which an evaluation is realistic, prudent, diplomatic, and frugal. Propriety refers to the properness of an evaluation in terms of meeting legal and ethical obligations. Accuracy pertains to the trustworthiness of evaluation data. Use of the PES as a framework for descriptive metaevaluation of a single case illustrated the breadth of issues involved in curriculum evaluation and their interrelated ness. Furthermore, the PES helped to reveal strengths and weaknesses that served as start ing points for further improvement of the evaluation.This article describes an example of meta-evaluation in an educational setting. The meta-evaluation examined an evaluation of a community-based, interdisciplinary curriculum. The Program Evaluation Standards (PES), divided into the categories of utility, feasibility, propriety, and accuracy, provided a framework for the meta-evaluation. Utility standards address the information needs of intended users. Feasibility refers to the extent to which an evaluation is realistic, prudent, diplomatic, and frugal. Propriety refers to the properness of an evaluation in terms of meeting legal and ethical obligations. Accuracy pertains to the trustworthiness of evaluation data. Use of the PES as a framework for descriptive meta-evaluation of a single case illustrated the breadth of issues involved in curriculum evaluation and their interrelatedness. Furthermore, the PES helped to reveal strengths and weaknesses that served as starting points for further improvement of the evaluation.

Learner-specific continuing education and the myers-briggs type inventory

&NA; While traditional needs assessments identify educational content, generally these assessments do not measure the varied learning styles of the audience. Individual practitioners can use the Myers‐Briggs Type Inventory to help identify learning styles and, based on that identification, select continuing education activities where learning will be most efficient and effective. A review of the Myers‐Briggs typology and relevant literature indicates that learners with varied learning styles benefit from quite different learning activities. The traditional large continuing education meeting, for example, is well suited for some learners, not for others. Health professionals will find it easier to stay current in their fields if they select appropriate, learner‐specific modes of continuing education. Professional relationships may also benefit if professionals in the same practice environment understand and appreciate that different continuing education formats are necessary for people with different learning styles.

Qualitative assessment of agritourism safety guidelines: a demonstration project.

ABSTRACT In 2007, the National Childrens Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety (NCCRAHS) published Agritourism Health and Safety Guidelines for Children to provide helpful recommendations for protecting the health and safety of children visiting agritourism farms. Supplement A: Policies and Procedures Guide and Supplement B: Worksite Guide were subsequently published in 2009 and provided agritourism farms with checklists to use in reviewing, planning, and implementing their own health and safety practices. In order to better understand what would be required of a farm wishing to implement the guidelines using Supplements A and B, the North Carolina Agromedicine Institute conducted a single-family farm demonstration project with support from the NCCRAHS. The aims of the project were to (1) determine child health and safety risks associated with an existing agritourism farm; (2) determine the cost of making improvements necessary to reduce risks; and (3) use project findings to motivate other agritourism farms, Cooperative Extension agents, and agritourism insurers to adopt or recommend Agritourism Health and Safety Guidelines for Children for their own farms or farms with which they work. At the conclusion of the study, the target farm was in compliance with an average of 86.9% of items in Supplements A and B. Furthermore, 89% of individuals self-identifying as farmers or farm workers and 100% of Cooperative Extension agents and agritourism insurers attending an end-of-project workshop indicated their intent to adopt or recommend Agritourism Health and Safety Guidelines for Children for their own farms or farms with which they work.

Profile of Public Health Leadership.

CONTEXT Public health leaders play pivotal roles in ensuring the population health for our nation. Since 2000, the number of schools of public health has almost doubled. The scholarly credentials for leaders of public health in academic and practice are important, as they make decisions that shape the future public health workforce and important public health policies. OBJECTIVE This research brief describes the educational degrees of deans of schools of public health and state health directors, as well as their demographic profiles, providing important information for future public health leadership planning. DESIGN Data were extracted from a database containing information obtained from multiple Web sites including academic institution Web sites and state government Web sites. Variables describe 2 sets of public health leaders: academic deans of schools of public health and state health directors. RESULTS Deans of schools of public health were 73% males and 27% females; the PhD degree was held by 40% deans, and the MD degree by 33% deans. Seventy percent of deans obtained their terminal degree more than 35 years ago. State health directors were 60% males and 40% females. Sixty percent of state health directors had an MD degree, 4% a PhD degree, and 26% no terminal degree at all. Sixty-four percent of state health directors received their terminal degree more than 25 years ago. In addition to terminal degrees, 56% of deans and 40% of state health directors held MPH degrees. CONCLUSION The findings call into question competencies needed by future public health professionals and leadership and the need to clarify further the level of public health training and degree type that should be required for leadership qualifications in public health.