A unique 1 + 1 licensed practical nurse (LPN) to registered nurse (RN) program is offered through a contractual partnership between Lake Area Technical Institute and the University of South Dakota. The practical nursing graduates enjoy a seamless transition from LPN to RN. A critical piece to the success of this joint venture is the mutual use of facilities and the utilization of shared faculty. Collaboration among Lake Area Technical Institute, the South Dakota Board of Education, the University of South Dakota, and the South Dakota Board of Regents has created the seamless articulation of general education and practical nursing credits. Acknowledgement of prior education is recognized through a demonstration of competencies and verification of credits. The 1 + 1 program has been a success for more than a decade as a result of two schools working together under one roof.

The purpose of this quality improvement project was to evaluate a statewide initiative promoting Advance Care Planning (ACP) to educate and support multidisciplinary ACP educators and provide tools to start ACP conversations in a predominantly rural state of the Upper Midwest. Individual objectives were to (1) motivate people of different professions and backgrounds to support the vision and (2) implement a system to educate and maintain a pipeline of ACP educators in appropriate methodologies to enable ACP in distant communities. The Advance Care Planning: Quality Conversations coalition was formed in 2015 to improve health care across the life span. The Reach-Effectiveness-Adoption-Implementation-Maintenance framework was applied to evaluate the project. Outcome variables were measured before, during, and after program implementation through service statistics and a questionnaire. Participation in the coalition's membership team between September 2015 and September 2019 ranged from 18 to 36 with a median of 27 and mode of 27. At least 20 different professions were represented. The coalition provided funds for educating 9 ACP instructors and 180 facilitators according to the Respecting Choices–First Steps ACP program. The coalition's mission has generated sustained interest for 4 years. Key elements and obstacles to implementing a statewide coalition were identified.

PURPOSEThe study compared the impact of educating learners in interprofessional versus single profession teams using the Respecting Choices First Steps® Advance Care Planning training method. METHODSLearners in an academic program were grouped into either interprofessional or single profession teams and participated separately in Respecting Choices® Facilitator training. A PICOT question was formulated: In ACP facilitators and their clients what is the effect of an ACP educational initiative on attitudes, knowledge and behaviors when the initiative is delivered by an interprofessional compared to a single profession team of learners during a year-long pilot study? RESULTS 1. Confidence in the subject matter increased in ACP facilitators pre-to post test. 2. Interprofessional knowledge and attitudes were not different in the two teams. 3. Clients attending ACP workshops improved their scores pre-to post workshop but no difference was observed between clients of the interprofessional and the single profession team.CONCLUSION Preliminary steps beyond grouping learners into teams consisting of multiple professions will be required to impact their effectiveness over a single profession team.