Improving Patient Care Through Interprofessional Education

Abstract 4764

For interprofessional healthcare teams to succeed, collaborative learning should foster an understanding of the value of each profession for improving patient outcomes. Center of Excellence Media, LLC is conducting independent follow-up research to investigate how barriers to optimal patient care can be addressed through comprehensive education with interprofessional-targeted application directives. In addition, it is examining whether activities that recognize each team member's roles and responsibilities can foster interprofessional communication.

Considerations in Multiple Myeloma™ and Considerations in Lymphoma™ are two annual series of CME/CE accredited activities that provide clinicians with information they need to make up-to-date and appropriate treatment decisions for their patients, and are simultaneously made available as supplements to the professional publications The Oncology Nurse-APN/PA®, The Oncology Pharmacist®, and Value-Based Cancer Care®. The faculty panel for each activity is comprised of a hematologist-oncologist, a midlevel provider (a nurse, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant), and a pharmacist from a leading cancer institution, which allows added insight into an interprofessional approach to care. Following a successful didactic series in 2009, in which faculty members discussed their professional perspectives of evidence and data, the 2010 series was case-based and contained commentary from faculty describing their individual roles in patient management. The 2011 series, entitled “Ask the Experts,” poses frequently asked questions regarding the management of myeloma or lymphoma to faculty panels.

Preliminary findings have shown that participants have become more aware of the roles and responsibilities of other healthcare professionals (98.5%), and are more comfortable interacting with other members of their practice after participating in these activities (97.8%). They are also collaborating more with other professionals involved in the treatment of their patients (89.3%). Not only were participants individually better able to care for patients after participating in these activities (98.2%), they also acknowledged that interprofessional patient care had been enhanced (97.8%). We continue to collect follow-up data as new activities in this series are released; comprehensive data will be presented at the ASH Annual Meeting.