A Patient Safety Champion Program for Interprofessional Health Care Educators: Implementation and Outcomes

Abstract

Introduction: Health care educators are challenged with helping clinicians develop competencies beyond their foundational training. In health care systems where continuing professional development is not integral to practice, clinicians may have few opportunities. We describe the design, implementation, and evaluation of a professional development program in patient safety for Japanese clinical educators to acquire simulation instructional skills and become Patient Safety Champions at their organizations. Methods: Mixed methods were used in a longitudinal pre/post study design. The Kirkpatrick evaluation model was used to evaluate outcomes of a workshop, overall program, on-site training experiences, and impact as Patient Safety Champions. Selfassessment data on skills and knowledge of patient safety, simulation instructional methods, interprofessional collaboration, and leadership were collected and analyzed. Results: Eighty-nine percent of participants facilitated on-site patient safety training within 6 months of workshop completion. Skills and knowledge improvement were observed immediately postworkshop in four categories: patient safety, simulation instructional methods, interprofessional collaboration and communication, and leadership as a patient safety champion. Skills and knowledge increased at 6 months after facilitation of on-site safety training. Program mean satisfaction scores ranged from 84% to 92%. Mean Patient Safety Champion in-facility evaluations were 4.2 to 4.7 on a 5-point scale. Discussion: High levels of knowledge, skill retention, and behavior change are attributed to goal setting, outcome-oriented pedagogy, and reflective sessions. The Patient Safety Champion model and experiential learning approach gave Japanese clinical educators in medicine, nursing, and pharmacy an opportunity to learn from each other in simulations reflecting the practice environment.

Be a Champion! An Approach to Medical Emergency Response In Situ Simulations in the Outpatient Setting

“…A champion is someone interested in simulations and willing to participate in activities to improve their knowledge and skill. Brown-Deveaux et al (2022), Lane andMitchell (2013), andNowicki et al (2022) have utilized a nurse champion model to provide education to bring about practice improvement. Empowering the nurse champions helped with peer buy-in and attainment of the project's objectives.…”

The Power of the Partnership Between Faculty Development and Continuing Professional Development

“…They map out the use of learning theories, competency frameworks, and EPAs in program design resulting in three key findings: (1) FD competency frameworks in HPE need a more explicit focus and theoretical basis; (2) there is a lack of EPAs competencies linking to work practices; and (3) more attention to developmental elements in FD competency frameworks is needed to support faculty progression throughout their academic careers. Nowicki et al 8 provide a clear example of the benefits of the thoughtful combination of FD and CPD thinking and practice in their design of an interprofessional patient safety champion program for health care educators. The program contains the dual aim of simulation instructional skills acquisition (FD) and the creation of patient safety champions (CPD).…”