Better Together

Samuel Merritt University is preparing students to thrive in team-based healthcare through interprofessional education that mirrors today’s clinical practice. 

In today’s healthcare environment, no clinician works alone. A patient’s care may involve nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, and other specialists — all making decisions together. The quality of that collaboration can have a profound impact on patient safety, quality of care, and health outcomes.

In 2010, the World Health Organization identified interdisciplinary learning as “a necessary step in preparing a collaborative, practice-ready workforce that is better prepared to respond to local health needs.”

At Samuel Merritt University, in recognition of this approach to providing care, a core tenet of healthcare education now involves training students beyond their own disciplines. 

“Interprofessional education is central to everything we’re doing at Samuel Merritt University,” says Brian Clocksin, provost and executive vice president for academic and student affairs. “We want students across all of our programs to be put in situations where they are experiencing healthcare topics through the lens of interprofessional teams, because we know that is where healthcare is heading.”

Interprofessional education (IPE) at SMU provides more opportunities than ever before for students across disciplines “to learn from, about, and with each other,” as Clocksin describes it. 

IPE Passport is central to this effort, offering students a path to integrate classroom learning and perspectives to improve collaboration, quality of care, and outcomes. Amy Anderson, SMU’s assistant provost for strategy, says that the passport model provides a structure for students to track their progress through an IPE curriculum as they engage with the material at their own pace alongside their chosen specialty.

“The IPE Passport helps provide opportunities that, in many cases, supplement the students’ core academic requirements,” says Anderson.

SMU students are introduced to IPE Passport during orientation. Those who complete the program earn an IPE honors cord to wear with their academic regalia, as well as special recognition in the commencement program. Students who opt into the program progress through three levels on their IPE Passport journey. 

In the first level, known as Preparatory, students build essential knowledge of IPE concepts at their own pace through a series of online modules. The second level, Foundational, exposes students to TeamSTEPPS, an evidence-based framework developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to optimize healthcare team performance, reduce medical errors, and enhance patient safety by improving communication and collaboration skills. The methodology is increasingly being used by healthcare professionals throughout the United States and is embedded in the curriculum of most SMU programs.

During the third level, Applied, students directly engage in hands-on interprofessional activities. Anderson says, “These provide the sort of huge ‘aha moments’ for our students where all of their learning comes together. They really start to understand what it’s going to be like to go out into practice and work in a team environment.”

Several IPE Applied opportunities are offered at various points throughout the school year. A three-hour simulation called “Hearing Voices” puts students in a scenario engaging a patient experiencing auditory hallucinations. Another IPE Applied experience is a tabletop simulation called “Friday Night at the ER.”

Heidi Garske, PT, DPT, PhD, associate professor in the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program, collaborates with Rachel True, MPH, director of operations at SMU’s Health Sciences Simulation Center (HSSC), to oversee what has become IPE’s flagship activity: the Patient Safety and Communication Simulation. The simulation brings together students from physical therapy, occupational therapy, nursing, social work, physician assistant, and other health professions programs. “Patients will be better cared for if we develop collective competence rather than if we all work in silos,” says Garske.

More than just a test of practical learning, Garske says the robust simulation is designed to create reasons for the students to apply knowledge of each profession’s roles and responsibilities and to communicate and collaborate with one another. The student team interacts with an actor playing a patient in a real-world setting at the new HSSC on the Oakland campus as a diverse group of faculty observers watches the scenario play out. Both student and faculty participants truly learn from, about, and with one another during the simulation, engaging in dialogue and feedback before and after it.

“One of the beautiful things about the IPE is that the students and faculty come together for a few hours of simulation, create new teams with people that they don’t know, and learn to work together to care for the patient,” says True.

Over the course of six weeks this spring, 250 SMU students participated in the Patient Safety and Communication Simulation. “We’re hoping to build out more opportunities for interprofessional learning that can include more learners with this new simulation facility,” says True.

In addition to the IPE work in the state-of-the-art HSSC, the Oakland campus is expanding opportunities for interdisciplinary experiences beyond the classroom as well. The Transforming Care Symposium series was launched in May to bring SMU together with the larger healthcare community for shared learning on critical topics. Clocksin says the effort is more than a dialogue.

“It is a call to action. Are we preparing our students to hit the ground running with what they’re going to face in our communities? How do we find community partners to make sure that’s happening? In order to transform the experience of care, it really takes everybody in the entire ecosystem of healthcare,” he says.

At the first Transforming Care Symposium held in May, SMU partnered with PD Active, a local organization of individuals with Parkinson’s Disease and their caregivers. Participants came together through discussions and activities to share their experiences of care in the healthcare system as patients, caregivers, and practitioners. The Symposium series will continue monthly at the Oakland campus and will be livestreamed.

“As an institution, we are moving to where interprofessional education becomes the norm,” says Clocksin.