COGME - Resource Paper

Summary

Collaborative Education to Ensure Patient Safety

Continued

1 2 3 4 Page 5

IOM Theme 4: Creating safety systems inside health care organizations through the implementation of safe practices at the delivery level. This level is the ultimate target of all recommendations

There is a strong belief that practice approaches have their foundation in the education and training system. Accordingly, a wide range of changes is recommended in the approaches being used to educate and train our health care professionals. Specific recommendations regarding academic changes include the following. Many of the recommendations could be pursued by DHHS through the existing Titles VII and VIII authorities:

Promote use of simulations in teaching and evaluation of team performance analogous to practices in the aviation industry. This should be ongoing, beginning early in professional schooling, continuing throughout training, and at intervals during professional practice as part of the continuing education and recertification process. Collaborative team approaches should be stressed in both education and evaluation.

Teaching should have a problem-based focus, emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration in systems to enhance patient safety.

Link performance evaluation and content of examinations to interdisciplinary collaboration to promote patient safety.

Professional education and training in clinical settings should require the incorporation of interdisciplinary delivery of care focused on development and implementation of systems to enhance patient safety. Some percentage of interdisciplinary training, simulations, and/or exercises should be mandatory. Initial programs should emphasize interdisciplinary issues (e.g., teamwork, conflict resolution, practical use of informatics to promote collaboration in enhancing patient safety).

DHHS should convene a major inter-bureau/interagency exploratory process to examine areas in which interdisciplinary training or practice might be useful and form a basis for a demonstration. In particular, HRSA should identify programs in which team practice approaches would be suitable and might provide a basis for demonstrations or for adoption of explicit program guidance or criteria in procurement materials.

Create a laboratory, either brand new, or within existing settings to develop new types of practitioners and potentially new models of health practice certification or licensing focused on interdisciplinary collaboration to promote patient safety.

There is a critical need to address the lack of faculty qualified to teach interdisciplinary practice. This should be done by a combination of public and private mechanisms:

A. Creation of a fellowship program to develop faculty leaders in interdisciplinary education to promote patient safety.

B. Develop specialty initiatives for doctoral education in interdisciplinary education to promote patient safety.

C. Create new models for doctoral and other graduate interdisciplinary education.

D. Create research funding for a new model of academic education that focuses on interdisciplinary practice to promote patient safety.

E. DHHS should:

(1) Work with academic and training institutions, national professional organizations, foundations and other interested entities to create incentives for faculty engaged in interdisciplinary work on patient safety.

(2) Work with public and private academic and professional organizations to encourage institutions to reward teaching in interdisciplinary programs on patient safety through the tenure system.

(3) Adopt a new incentive program to reward faculty for development of innovative teaching practices through fellowships and scholarships.

(4) Encourage appointment of faculty focused on interdisciplinary practice.

(5) Work with public and private academic and professional organizations to encourage institutions to synchronize academic calendars in professional schools to facilitate the development and expansion of interprofessional programs to enhance patient safety.

(6) Examine the distribution of funding for graduate health professions education (i.e., Medicare/GME payments) to encourage greater support for community-based interdisciplinary education.

(7) Establish programs to identify and eliminate barriers that prevent faculty from participating in interprofessional practice and education programs, and serve as a faculty resource on interdisciplinary training and practice:

Develop a repository for "best practices" for faculty in interdisciplinary programs to enhance patient safety;
Provide incentives for development of faculty practices designed for interdisciplinary education and research to promote patient safety;
Work with professional organizations and public agencies to encourage removal of barriers to faculty teaching in interdisciplinary programs (i.e., certification requirements, practice acts, regulations).

1 2 3 4 Page 5

Last Updated June 14, 2001

Contact Comments@hrsa.gov with site problems or comments.

Bureau of Health Professions
Health Resources & Services Administration
U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services