Implementing a collaborative medicine and pharmacy educational activity in two countries

Abstract

Background: To promote better collaboration for patient care, interprofessional education (IPE) is required in many health professions courses. However, successful IPE implementation at scale can be challenging because of complicated logistics and competing priorities. Implementing across multiple geographies adds further complexity. Objective: This paper describes the implementation of a full cohort IPE activity for medical and pharmacy students delivered at both the Australian and Malaysian campuses of Monash University. Design: We designed a 150-minute, blended learning activity centred around asthma care for second-year medical and pharmacy students. Student perceptions were measured with a pre-and post-activity survey using the validated ten-item, three-factor, SPICE-R2 instrument. Analysis focused on differences between professions and countries. Results: All second-year medicine (N = 301 in Australia and N = 107 in Malaysia) and pharmacy students (N = 168 in Australia and N = 117 in Malaysia) participated in the learning activity. A total of 326/693 (47%) students participated in the associated research by completing both the pre-and post-activity surveys. The pre-activity survey showed significant differences in four items between medicine and pharmacy students in Australia and two items in Malaysia. Post-activity, we observed significant changes in 8/10 items when the two professions were combined. Specifically, we noted changes across the countries in perceptions of roles and responsibilities for collaborative practice and patient outcomes from collaborative practice. Conclusions: IPE across different professions and countries is feasible. Positive outcomes in role understanding and perceived patient outcomes are achievable through a contextsensitive, locally driven approach to implementation. Longitudinal experiences may be required to influence perceptions of teamwork and team-based care.

Development of a Vertically Integrated Pharmacy Degree

“…The comprehensive curricular changes to why, what, and how we teach pharmacy students have been transformational and sustained. We have used some of these models (e.g., DEAR, skills coaching) to inform the redesign of our Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Sciences program and collaborative work with other health professions [44]. When faced with a need to convert quickly to online instruction in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, our faculty was able to work together effectively, in part because of the trust built through creating this new program [44,55].…”

“…We have used some of these models (e.g., DEAR, skills coaching) to inform the redesign of our Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Sciences program and collaborative work with other health professions [44]. When faced with a need to convert quickly to online instruction in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, our faculty was able to work together effectively, in part because of the trust built through creating this new program [44,55]. We hope that sharing our systems, processes, and resources can assist others looking to undertake a transformational health curriculum rebuild.…”

“…The Monash Collaborative Care Curriculum Framework (CCCF) scaffolds knowledge, skills, behaviours, and attitudes with agreed learning outcomes at the novice (first year), intermediate (middle years), and entry to practice (final years) levels of training [43]. This framework has supported the design, implementation, and evaluation of several interprofessional (pharmacy and medical students) learning activities [44,45]. The CCCF has more recently been expanded to include shared goals in digital health training, a key topic in our new curriculum [46].…”

Current trends in medical education affecting allergy and immunology physicians and learners

“…Other opportunities for IPE integration include partnering with nurses in allergy immunotherapy instruction or including pharmacists as instructors when teaching A/I trainees in inpatient settings. At the undergraduate level, Brock et al 25 described an interactive, blended 150-minute IP learning experience for medical and pharmacy students focusing on asthma management. It was delivered online in 2 countries (Australia and Malaysia) by the medicine and pharmacy faculty.…”

Insights into Delivering Cross-Cultural Medical Education in the UK and Malaysia

“…Reports of IPE activities are predominantly from developed countries, with developing countries such as Malaysia incorporating IPE into healthcare education curricula more recently [ 86 – 89 ]. Brock et al recently reported on the development of an IPE activity for medical and pharmacy students at Monash University, delivered on their Australian and Malaysian campuses [ 90 ]. They note the importance of developing context-specific activities, consistent with recommendations from studies that have incorporated Western IPE competency frameworks into South East Asian healthcare education curricula [ 91 , 92 ].…”