Interdisciplinary Collaborative Training for School‐Based Health Professionals

Abstract

Changes in the nation's health and education systems have mandated that disciplines work together in a coordinated and collaborative manner to meet the complex health and educational needs of children and adolescents. This need for interdisciplinary collaborative training becomes even more of an issue for professionals providing services in school-based health centers. Although several foundation projects have focused on training health care professionals and other service disciplines, there are relatively few reports of interdisciplinary training of school health professionals. Two projects--the California State University Interprofessional Collaboration Training Project and the Catholic University of America School Nurse Practitioner Program--are reviewed and suggestions are presented for expanding interdisciplinary training of school-based health professionals in academic institutions.

Validation of an Instrument to Measure Pharmacy and Medical Students’ Attitudes Toward Physician-Pharmacist Collaboration

“…Confirmation of previously emerged factor structure indicates that the underlying constructs of the SATP 2 C is reliable and valid considering that the 3 factors of responsibility and accountability, shared authority, and interdisciplinary education have been described as important elements of collaborative relationships among health professionals. [3][4][5][6][7] More positive attitudes toward collaboration among pharmacy students than among medical students confirms the principle of least interest proposed by Waller and Hill in the context of family relations. 20 According to this principle, those who traditionally have been in a more powerful position are less likely to express eagerness for collaborative relationships with others whom they consider to be lower in the power hierarchy.…”

“…1 Health care providers now consider collaboration and teamwork to be an important component of professionalism 2 leading to greater patient safety 1 and better patient outcomes. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9] Physician-pharmacist collaboration results in improved patient self-care skills, fewer drug interactions 10,11 and medication errors, 12 and more cost-effective use of medication, 13 all of which lead to more effective drug therapy and better patient outcomes.…”

Psychometrics of the scale of attitudes toward physician–pharmacist collaboration: A study with medical students

“…The constructs of ''shared authority'' and ''interdisciplinary education'' are also important in caring for the patient, and in training of health professionals. (Fagin 1992;Poulton & West 1993;Clemmer et al 1998;Papa et al 1998;McCord 2005;Nkansah et al 2008). …”

“…Teamwork and collaboration among health care providers is regarded as one important ingredient of professionalism (Veloski & Hojat 2006) which can lead to the improvement of patient safety and optimal patient outcomes (Fagin 1992;Poulton & West 1993;Clemmer et al 1998;Papa 1998;Kiel & McCord 2005;Carter et al 2008;Nkansah et al 2008). Collaborative relationships between physicians and pharmacists can be reflected in conferring patients' drug therapy, coordinating to improve patients' selfcare skills, providing information about drug interactions (McDonough & Doucette 2001;Brock & Doucette 2004), reducing medication errors (Sweeney 2002) and cost-effective use of medication (Davies et al 1994).…”

A Tool to Teach Communication Skills to Pharmacy Students

“…13,14 There are essential components to practitioner collaboration including effective communication, sharing of patient care responsibilities, and viewing other practitioners' patient care services as equally valuable and complementary. 15 This collaboration can lead to improved drug therapy monitoring, a more timely exchange of patient information, and a more efficient resolution of any drug therapy problems that arise. 16 Effective communications between pharmacists and physicians often occur over the telephone and that in itself could stand as a barrier to communication.…”