(P28) Interprofessional Education on Transitions from Hospital to Skilled Nursing Facilities

Objective/Aim: At our institution, an interprofessional (IP) hospital team consisting of a hospitalist, pharmacist, and nurse practitioner, meets with IP teams from local skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) in a weekly teleconference to reconcile gaps in care for patients recently discharged from the hospital to the SNFs. We created an IP learning experience centered around this teleconference with the aim of teaching learners the importance of working with an IP team to perform safe hospital-to-SNF transitions. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of the experience on learners’ attitudes toward IP care.

Design/Methodology: We collaborated with professional training programs to recruit IP learners, and we designed a weeklong educational experience which included: 1) a 30-minute online module that describes care transitions for SNFs, 2) a one-hour interactive session on IP competencies and transitions of care facilitated by a Geriatrics fellow and a geriatrician, and 3) the weekly teleconference. Learners participated in this weekly educational experience in groups of 2-5 and filled out a post-survey, which included pertinent items modified from the W(e) Learn Interprofessional (IP) Program Assessment tool, in which learners rated positively worded statements about the content and outcomes of our educational program. Learners rated 23 statements from 0=strongly disagree to 100=strongly agree and answered 3 open-ended questions. We used quantitative analysis and qualitative thematic analysis to evaluate the survey results.

Results: We held 12 sessions in the last 4 months, and 26 learners from 3 academic institutions participated, including pharmacy, nursing, and medical students, as well as medical residents. Twenty learners (77%) completed the post-survey. 95% (18/19) of participants agreed, with a rating of 80 or more on the statement, that they were motivated to change their practice toward providing more effective IP care. 84% (16/19) agreed, with a rating of 80 or more, that they had improved knowledge of the IP competencies they need to continue to develop. One theme that emerged in the responses was an understanding of the importance of IP collaboration; one learner wrote that they learned “everyone is an integral part of the team and has valuable knowledge to bring to help with patient care.” Another theme that arose was the importance of IP communication within care transitions; one learner wrote they learned to “keep an open line of communication with other providers” and will apply this in their practice.

Conclusion/

Discussion: This study demonstrates that an IP learning experience can successfully improve individuals’ knowledge of the role of the IP team in transitions of care, and other institutions may benefit from the adoption of this or similar experiences. Next steps include further program evaluation and assessment of long-term outcomes and engaging other learners, including physical and occupational therapy students.