This session illustrates how three departments, with three different educational delivery models, came together to create a multidisciplinary project to improve students’ cultural competency with health care service. The session will offer attendees from all professions the opportunity to formulate the beginnings of their own unique multidisciplinary assignment.
Topic: Interprofessional healthcare education (IPE) is a crucial approach to providing healthcare students the needed collaborative learning to successfully enter the workforce with the knowledge and skills to provide optimal client care (Burning et al., 2009). Healthcare education associations and accrediting agencies, including the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE), and the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculty (NONPF) require interprofessional education and training within their curricula (ACOTE, 2018; CAATE, 2020; NONPF, 2022). Unfortunately, IPE is not always fully executed within these respective healthcare programs (Breitbach at al., 2018; Hughes at al., 2019).
Accompanying the increased demand for interprofessional education, many healthcare professional organizations are releasing their stance on the importance of the integration of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within curriculum and clinical practice. AOTA released its official document on the occupational therapy (OT) profession’s commitment to DEI in 2020 calling for increased efforts in all areas, including research and education, to abide by the profession’s Code of Ethics and demonstrate non-discriminatory approach in collaboration and practice (AOTA, 2020). Likewise, athletic training (AT) entities are calling for increased efforts in these areas. The Athletic Trainer’s Association (NATA) has supported its stance on moving to a more diverse and inclusionary profession with the addition of the LGBTQ+ Advisory Committee, promoting the work of the Ethnic and Diversity Advisory Committee, and the 6-phase Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Response Plan (Adams et al., 2021). Highlighted by the nursing code of ethics, principles of equity and inclusion are core to the nursing profession. In 2021, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (ANCC) highlighted the importance of DEI by including required competencies related to DEI in their new core competencies for professional nursing education, known as The Essentials.
With the accreditation standards, position statements, and recent research indicating a lag in DEI healthcare education (Bolding, 2020; Nynas, 2015), three professors from an OT, AT, and nursing department within the same college created an interdisciplinary healthcare cohort assignment to address the call for improved DEI and IPE competence in OT, AT and nursing education. The mutual accommodations model guided the development of this interprofessional cultural competence assignment. The mutual accommodations model argues against assimilation of different cultures and calls for respect and recognition of differences (Suarez-Balcazar, et al., 2020). This diversity model advocates that all persons experience a safe environment to add value and feel connected, in both the clinical and educational settings. This model joined with the lens of a Christian university allots for robust virtual discussions and online discussion board reflections between and within cohorts of on the importance of interprofessional practice and cultural competence on client outcomes. The purpose of this assignment was to bring healthcare professional students together for an interprofessional educational experience while integrating essential cultural competencies so cohorts of professional healthcare students can learn from one another by viewing a difficult case through different healthcare lenses.
As all three departments operate on unique curricula tracks, the research allotted for a creative integration of the assignment. The OT department is a hybrid model that works in short, 7-week semesters and the class which the assignment took place is completely online. The AT program is an on-campus in person program with courses on a traditional semester curriculum. However, this particular course which the assignment occurred is a hybrid course where students are in person the first have but transition to online for the second half. The family nurse practitioner program is similar to OT as it is an online program with mandatory in-person immersions with this assignment occuring in an online course.
Students from the three cohorts who volunteered to participate in the research study completed a pre- and post-test of the Cultural Competence Assessment Instrument (CAA). The CCA is a validated instrument that measures individuals’ cultural awareness, sensitivity, and cultural competence behavior. Data analysis revealed a significantly statistical improvement in the mean scores of the pre and post CAA survey.
During the session, presenters will initially discuss a program evaluation they conducted of the IPE assignment that resulted in their research study. We will discuss the events and communication needed to coordinate with other faculty members outside of our departments for successful interprofessional collaboration. We will converse how our university’s and departments’ mission and values, the courses’ learning objectives, and the professions’ commitment to DEI helped shape the assignment and aim of the research study.
After our overview and discussion of our assignment, we plan to conduct a large group discussion on requirements of faculty attending the session, that are part of and outside of healthcare, on interprofessional collaboration and cultural competence requirements in their respective fields. Next, we plan to provide participants a hard copy and/or virtual copy, via a QR code, of a fillable form to allow participants to build their own interprofessional cultural competence assignment individualized to their classroom’s requirements. We will guide the participants through filling in their form via a large group format with open dialogue throughout to maximize peer involvement and knowledge sharing.
Level of Participation: This educational session is structured as a conversational gathering first focusing on one interprofessional assignment case study which improved students’ cultural competence, awareness, and sensitivity. Next, the speakers will guide attendees on how the cultural competence case study can be molded to different classrooms by providing a fillable handout for attendees that allows them to use their own school’s and/or profession’s mission and commitment to DEI to begin to create a cultural competence interdisciplinary assignment. Speakers will encourage attendees to discuss their ideas for fostering cultural competence with their students.
Session Goals: Individuals attending this session will be able to discuss innovative techniques for interdisciplinary student collaboration across a virtual platform. They will be able to develop avenues to improve students’ cultural competence, awareness, and sensitivity in a virtual, residential, or hybrid learning environment. They will also formulate learning objectives and topic ideas for a multidisciplinary assignment for implementation in their respective courses.
References:
Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education. (2018). 2018 Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) standards and interpretive guide (effective July 21, 2020). American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 72(Suppplement_2). 7212410005p1–7212410005p83. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2018.72S217
Adams. W.A., Terranova. A.B., & Belval. L.N. (2021). Addressing diversity. equity, and inclusion in athletic training: Shifting the focus to athletic training education. Journal of Athletic Training. 56 (2) 129-133. https://doi.org/10.4085/1062-6050-0558-20
American Occupational Therapy Association. (2020). Occupational therapy’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 74(Suppl. 3), 7413410030. https://doi.org/10. 5014/ajot.2020.74S3002
Bolding, D. J., Rodriguez, V., Nguyen, H., & Drabble, L. A. (2020). Survey of occupational therapy students' attitudes, knowledge and preparedness for treating LGBT clients. Journal of Occupational Therapy Education, 4 (2). https://doi.org/10.26681/jote.2020.040203
Breitbach, A. P., Eliot, K., Cuppett, M., Wilson, M., & Chushak, M. (2018). The progress and promise of interprofessional education in athletic training programs. Athletic Training Education Journal, 13(1), 57-66. https://doiorg/10.4085/130157
Buring, S. M., Bhushan, A., Broeseker, A., Conway, S., Duncan-Hewitt, W., Hansen, L., & Westberg, S. (2009). Interprofessional education: Definitions, student competencies, and guidelines for implementation. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 73(4), 59. https://doi.org/10.5688/aj730459
Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education. (2020). Professional program standards. CAATE.net. Retrieved, June 15, 2022, from https://caate.net/Programs/Professional/Professional-Program-Standards
Hughes, J. K., Allen, A., McLane, T., Stewart, J. L., Heboyan, V., & Leo, G. D. (2019). Interprofessional education among occupational therapy programs: Faculty perceptions of challenges and opportunities. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 73(1), 7301345010p1-7301345010p6. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2019.030304
National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculty. (2022). Standards for quality nurse practitioner education, 6th Ed. https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.nonpf.org/resource/resmgr/2022/ntfs_/20220201_...
Nynas. S.M. (2015). The assessment of athletic training students’ knowledge and behavior to provide culturally competent care. Athletic Training Education Journal. 10 (1) 82-90. http://doi.org/10.4085/100182
Suarez-Balcazar, Y., Muñoz, J.P., and Early, A.R. (2020). Supporting diversity and inclusion in occupational therapy education. In S.D. Taff, L.C. Grajo, and B.R. Hooper (Eds). Perspectives on occupational therapy education: Past, present, and future. (pp. 103-113). SLACK Inc.