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Interprofessional education is becoming more popular in higher education and service-learning has been a successful method to facilitate experiences that foster teamwork between professions. This report shares the results from an interprofessional service-learning project (ISLP) targeting students across eight disciplines (physician assistant, medicine, pharmacy, dietetic internship, physical therapy, master in health administration, nursing and biomedical science). The project used an existing resource, the South Carolina Area Health Education Consortium (SC-AHEC), to coordinate student learning across multiple regions and an established health promotion program curriculum for student outreach content. Participating students (n = 149) were evaluated to determine how the activity affected student appreciation and knowledge of their own and other professions, their interaction with other professional students, and student teamwork skills. Students found the most value in learning with students from other professions as part of the activity with lesser value placed on students increasing their knowledge about their profession's role in interprofessional work.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact on patient outcomes of nurse staffing and registered nurse (RN) skill mix patterns used by medical-surgical units in California hospitals after enactment of nurse-to-patient staffing ratio laws, and determine if there are differences in patient outcomes for conditions that are considered sensitive to nursing care. Results from this study demonstrated an association between total nursing hours per patient day (NHPPD) and two outcomes: urinary tract infections (UTI) and length of stay (LOS). A stronger association was observed between the RN proportions of the total nursing hours of care and the same outcomes. The higher the total NHPPD and RN proportion, the lower the LOS and the lower the odds of hospitalized patients' developing UTI.

The majority of users of an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) at a family medicine clinic located in a small city in the western United States are currently quite dissatisfied with the system. The practice experienced a disastrous implementation of the EMR in 1994 and has not recovered. Although the level of dissatisfaction varies among the practice employees, several influential physicians are pushing to “pull the plug” and start over with a brand new system. The authors of this case studied this practice during a more comprehensive qualitative study of the impact of an EMR system on primary care. The practice’s negative experience was particularly noteworthy, because the other four practices in the larger study were satisfied with the EMR system. As with most system failures, there are multiple organizational and other factors that have contributed to the frustrations and dissatisfactions with the use of EMR within this practice.

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