Interactive Audience Response Systems (ARS) are widely used as tools to promote active learning in the classroom in many disciplines. Researchers have found that ARS technology with question-driven instruction (QDI) makes classroom instruction more student centered, while creating an environment for active learning. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of ARS with QDI in one bachelors of science in nursing course on the perceived learning experience of the students. ARS technology with QDI was used in a beginning medical-surgical class of junior-level students throughout one semester. Descriptive statistical analyses indicated that nursing students positively evaluated the effect of ARS with QDI on their learning. Qualitative analyses indicated that students had better understanding of the material via post-question discussion of the rationales for answers, enhanced NCLEX-RN preparation, and increased interactivity, which led to paying more attention in class.

An interprofessional leadership course for medical, nursing, and physician assistant students was the setting for teaching communication, self-reflection, and team skills. Students completed the Self-Efficacy for Interprofessional Experiential Learning (SEIEL) Scale, the Team Skills Scale Adjusted, and a survey assessing knowledge of healthcare professions, to evaluate changes in student's knowledge, confidence, and skills in interprofessional learning. Overall students rated their knowledge of role and scope of practice for health professions as significantly higher at the end of the course. This was also true of each of the individual profession groups. There was also a significant increase in overall students' confidence in their ability to carry out the student role in interprofessional learning and in self perceived team skills. However, when individual professions were analyzed separately, the nursing student group was the only group to show significant differences. The Core Competencies for InterprofessionalCollaborative Practice, recommended by the Interprofessional Education Collaborative, address interprofessional leadership knowledge and skills that are critical to safe, high quality patient care. These core competencies speak collectively to our challenge to produce graduates with leadership skills for "collaborative practice readiness." 1,2 Reports from the Institute of Medicine, American Hospital Association, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the World Health Organization (WHO), make building a safer healthcare system a global challenge. 2-6 WHO asks that leaders in health and education work together to implement innovative ways of delivering interprofessional education for "collaborative practice readiness." 2 A core competency of collaboration is effective communication, as poor communication patterns have the potential to break down the relationships that are so critical in teams and can result in medical errors. The ability to establish relationships is essential to learning to work together and effective communication enhances and sustains these relationships. Gittell stresses the importance of relationships in collaboration and defines relational coordination (RC) as "coordinating work through relationships of shared goals, shared knowledge and mutual respect." 7 Jefferson College of Health Sciences (JCHS) and the new Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine (VTCSOM) seized the opportunity to create an environment where health professions students could not only learn with, from, and about each other but could also establish relationships that allowed for learning about the significance of communication skills. Learning communication concepts and skills during their educational process serves as the foundation and preparation to promote collaboration in the workplace.JCHS had established interprofessional education (IPE) as a quality enhancement project and VTCSOM had embodied interprofessionalism as one of four foundational domains in their curriculum. This partnership resulted i...

The process of creating a longitudinal interprofessionalism curriculum was initiated through the collaborative efforts of the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, the Jefferson College of Health Sciences and the Batten Leadership Institute of Hollins University. A year-long Interprofessionalism Leadership course, that constitutes the first part of the Interprofessionalism domain that spans the four years of medical school at VTCSOM, was designed and implemented. The strategy for creating this course and subsequest alterations based on student feedback and faculty reflection are provided. The commentary provides experiential insight for other schools embarking on curricular revisions revolving around interprofessional healthcare education.Keywords Interprofessional leadership . Year-long longitudinal IPE course . Institutional collaboration Medical, nursing, and physician assistant schools share a common goal of producing graduates who are technically competent, compassionate, and dedicated and who work effectively as part of the healthcare team. Healthcare educational institutions are challenged to teach vital behaviors [1] that will translate into a sustained capacity to promote a healthy team culture. Studies widely support the value and role of interprofessional practices as precursors to the highest quality patient care through enhanced perspective teamwork and creative problem solving [2][3][4][5]. Students who learn alongside other students in a team-based, community-focused environment demonstrated a better understanding of theoretical concepts underpinning teamwork and were better able to apply theories in a practical concept [6].The call for changes in medical education is being made on many fronts across many healthcare professions to include interprofessional healthcare education and practice in undergraduate and graduate medical education programs [7][8][9]. Incorporating significant interprofessionalism content and experiences into existing medical education programs has been a challenge due to crowded medical student schedules typically built around rigid traditional departmentally based courses, differing schedules of the other professional students such as nursing and physician assistant programs, difficulty in matching the learners at varying stages of educational development and experience within their respective programs, and the emphasis of the first 2 years of medical school on US Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 content mastery. Even so, some medical schools have managed to incorporate combined opportunities for interprofessional education and practice but the programs have been met with varying degrees of success and completion. Curricular approaches include didactic courses, community-based experiences, day-long seminars, sporadic interprofessional healthcare symposia, and high-fidelity simulation exercises The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine is a new 4-year allopathic medical school in Roanoke, Virginia, that matriculated its first class of 42 students in Augus...