This document summarizes an interprofessional education program for final year nursing, medical, and allied health students called Get Ready. The program aimed to improve collaboration skills through competency development, simulations, and team-based learning. Over the course of a week, 52 students participated in activities focusing on roles, communication, conflict resolution and acute/chronic case scenarios. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation found significant improvements in collaboration outcomes. Organizers concluded the program successfully prepared students for interprofessional practice and should be continued and expanded to other universities.

1. 1
Right Start Forum
Get Ready!
A Course for Interprofessional Work-Place Readiness
Grainne O’Loughlin, Director Allied Health
Marie Heydon, Get Ready! Project Officer
St Vincents & Mater Health Sydney
University partners:
University of New South Wales – St Vincent’s Clinical School
The University of Sydney
Australian Catholic University
University of Tasmania, School of Nursing and Midwifery
27 February 2012
Team Health Right Start Program Showcase
27 February 2012

2. 2
Introduction & Background
 Established an Interdisciplinary Working party to respond to the CETI EOI
 Once successful, the Working party became a Project Steering Committee to provide project
governance.
 Agreed to design and deliver a 1 week pre-graduate interprofessional education program for 50
Nursing, Medical and Allied Health students in last semester of study in conjunction with several
University partners
Key Project objectives:
 To develop a program that ensured participants gained an understanding of the scopes of
practice and roles of the different health professionals and an understanding of the
importance of collaborative practice in delivering safe and quality patient care
 To develop a program that improved confidence in team-based skills including
communication, leadership, learning in teams, collaborative practice and/or collaborative care
planning in an interdisciplinary team
 To provide teamwork modelling in a simulated environment via formal teaching, e-learning,
simulation training and clinical skill modelling.
 To develop a n Interprofessional Competency framework: and a team based ‘vehicle’ for
delivering program components
Team Health Right Start Program Showcase
27 February 2012

3. 3
Aim & Methods
 Key educational strategies:
 Competency framework: interprofessional competencies adopted from CIHC: these are interprofessional
communication, patient/client/family/community centred care, role clarification, team functioning, collaborative
leadership and interprofessional conflict resolution
 Team based ‘vehicle’ for delivering program components
 Acute to chronic focus – simulation centre activities (advanced life support and deteriorating patient focus) and team
based case scenario discussion and case conference role plays
 Use of multi-modal techniques – DVD’s, lectures, simulation, clinical skill modeling and team based tasks
 Program design:
 Day 1 – aims , evaluations, team formation & task, roles & case conference DVD, first Sim, ISBAR & communication
 Day 2 – usual clinical time, attend ward meetings, lecture on conflict resolution, communication, bullying &
harassment
 Day 3 – second Sim, difficult communication workshop, ‘just a routine operation’ DVD, first team time
 Day 4 - usual clinical time, attend ward meetings, integrating clinical and IPL objectives, case conference role play
 Day 5 – part morning usual clinical time, second team time, team case summary and team review & final evaluations
 Evaluation strategies:
 Quantitative - repeated measures where possible: ISVS; WSEIS; Competency matrix; Get Ready!; RIPLS (pre)
 Qualitative – content evaluation; simulation centre evaluation; facilitator evaluation and focus group
Team Health Right Start Program Showcase
27 February 2012

4. 4
Results
 Excellent attendance and participation from 52 Nursing, Medical and Allied Health students
 Robust quantitative and qualitative data very strongly support the effectiveness of this one week
program in addressing the core interprofessional competencies.
 Quantitative
 95% of all combined repeated measure items across four tools were statistically significant (two tailed paired t-test)
 ISVS: 30/34 sig. 1/3 of these for all subgroups – team participation. Another 1/3 – two subgroups.
 WSEIS: all questions significant. 63% for all subgroups. Med and Nursing had a majority sig. AH not sig for 17/38.
 Competency matrix: 38/41 sig. 9 of these sig for all groups – roles, team processes, conflict and collaboration
 Get Ready! All items sig. med 8/13; nursing 13/13; 12/13 AH. Confidence to collaborate and negotiate sig for all.
 RIPLS: Diversity between subgroups; greatly similarity between Nursing and AH. Most similar for all in teamwork and
collaboration and roles and responsibilities questions. Nursing students decisive; medical more equivocal
 Qualitative:
 This feedback strongly supported quantitative data. Sample student comments: ‘absolutely enjoyed the program,
ability to work in a multidisciplinary team has improved a lot’; ‘concept great, very needed....simulation and Human
Factors DVD excellent’; ‘terrific, informative and enjoyable, thanks’
 92% students endorsed this program for other pre-graduates with either unqualified support or a range of constructive
suggestions
 Students actively contributed suggestions eg more Sim, more clinical cases, less lectures! Shorten program, increase
medical facilitation
Team Health Right Start Program Showcase
27 February 2012

5. 5
Work Self-Efficacy Inventory
5
4
3
Pre
Post
2
1
Learning Problem Pressure Role Teamwork Sensitivity Work Politics Overall
Solving Expectations
Figure 4 – WS-EI subscale results for St Vincent’s (pre and post). Error
bars indicate ± 1 Standard Error.
Team Health Right Start Program Showcase
27 February 2012

6. Interprofessional Socialization and Valuing 6
Scale
7
6
5
4 Pre
Post
3
2
1
Comfort Behaviour Attitude Overall
Figure 7 – ISVS subscale results for St Vincent’s (pre and post). Error bars indicate ± 1
Standard Error.
Team Health Right Start Program Showcase
27 February 2012

7. 7
Conclusions & Lessons Learned
 Organisational infrastructure and resourcing
 Facilitation : skilled dedicated coordinator ; ample facilitation from each discipline represented - esp medical
 Simulation centre
 Educational centre
 Adaptable for regional settings and smaller groups
 Competency package
 used is a sound theoretical base for such a program and provides a foundation for detailing specific competencies and
in constructing relevant educational strategies for implementation.
 Simulating team work :
 Use of simulation centre for emergency scenarios with team based activities
 Use of team based case discussion and case conference role playing for ‘chronic’ clinical scenarios
 Reviewing team/group processes.
 Using a team model as the educational ‘vehicle’
 with built in reflective time provides opportunity for team building to occur in a ‘level playing field’ environment, that is,
all students are pre-graduates with no actual work experience. Therefore, there is not a work experience based
hierarchy as occurs in the actual work environment.
 Clinical scenarios:
 using as many as possible maintains student focus and motivation.
Team Health Right Start Program Showcase
27 February 2012

8. 8
Where to from here?
 Highly successful. Incorporate feedback into reviewed program design. Several options already
proposed.
 Continue to run program at SV&MHS in collaboration with partner Universities.
 Implement e-learning package as part of this
 Advocate model for use across state as has flexible programming components that can allow for
local material to be incorporated and for it to be adapted to student disciplines available at a given
time. Will benefit from ClinConnect mapping for this.
 Ongoing program evaluation and evolution.
 Potential for further research and development regarding these competencies
 Potential to consider supervisor competency evaluation as course component
Team Health Right Start Program Showcase
27 February 2012