Task Force on Establishing a Successful Interprofessional Education/Collaborative Practice (IPE/CP) Program and Partnership Within an Institution
Purpose
- Assist DPT programs in establishing and maintaining strong IPE/CP experiences in their programs.
- Enhance the visibility and value of interprofessional education in academic physical therapy.
- Encourage clinical and academic stakeholders in all settings to participate in open and inclusive intraprofessional and interprofessional partnerships.
- Assist DPT programs in the development of collaborative-ready physical therapists.
Objectives
To achieve its purpose, the Task Force will:
- Review:
- Engage with IPEC peers and others with successfully integrated IPE/CP programs at their institution to learn how they integrate IPE, what works and what doesn't work.
- Investigate how programs may standardize the provision of opportunities for students to practice IPE skills and bridge those opportunities from the classroom to the clinic.
- Outline strategies to manage IPE/CP in institutions in which few or no other health care programs exist.
- Evaluate how academic and clinical settings can develop and sustain a strong IPE/CP partnership that benefits both settings.
- The task force is committed to ensuring that its work will be rooted in principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. By integrating DEI considerations into our work, we aim to address systemic disparities, remove barriers, and foster an environment where all individuals, regardless of their background, have equal access to opportunities and representation within the field of physical therapy.
Outcomes
By following the above objectives, and any others identified, this Task Force will create resources for use by all institutions, which shall include:
- An institutional assessment tool to evaluate IPE effectiveness:
- Is the IPE/CP program at a college/university providing experiences that progress from exposure toward competence?
- Have outcomes been established and if so, are they being tracked?
- How is the college/university sure that students who complete their IPE/CP programs roadmap actually practice in a more collaborative manner?
- Includes the IPEC competencies, so that each institution can evaluate their specific IPE needs and track their progress.
- Guidelines for academic and clinical sites on how they can develop and sustain a strong IPE partnership that benefits both settings; this may include practice settings that are not contracting with academic programs for their students’ clinical experiences.
- Worksheets that outline an IPE/CP project with supplements for a variety of non-healthcare professions to follow. Examples:
- Evening health screenings by the PT may include a supplement that would allow law school students to offer rent/landlord advice to the patients who come to the clinic; or
- Aging in place may include a supplement for a school with students of architecture who could provide physical therapy patients various home modification plan to help them age in place.
- Recurring virtual IPE/CP workshops that allow institutions without any other health programs to collaborate with health professions students at other institutions.
- Roadmaps for students to interact with other professionals in planned activities on an ongoing basis.
- Develop an ACAPT network of exemplars of institutions with highly successful IPE/CP programs (both in academic medical centers and those without an academic medical center), to serve as mentors to those seeking to improve their ICE/CP programs.
Composition
The Task Force shall not exceed 10 people and will be made up of individuals whose institution has an active IPE/CP program with whom they have been actively involved for not less than 1 year. The Task Force will seek to have:
- Representatives from large and small institutions.
- Representatives from research-intensive institutions.
- Representatives who can show direct experience implementing justice, equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives.
- A recent DPT graduate representative.
- Equal representation of academicians and clinicians.
- Representation from diverse geographic and practice settings.
- Advisory: representatives from other health professions and or professions that intersect with healthcare.
The Chair’s primary responsibility will be to ensure the Task Force is meeting its charge as outlined in this document and within the timeline defined. The Chair will meet quarterly with the Institute Chair and Vice Chair, providing written progress reports on the work of the Task Force.
The Vice Chair will serve as the secretary of the Task Force whose responsibilities include polling for meetings, developing the agenda with the Chair, circulating minutes to Task Force members, staff and the Institute Chair and Vice Chair, and delivering all documents and work products to ACAPT for archiving.
- To ensure diverse engagement and equitable opportunities, no person serving on the Task Force may be serving on another of ACAPT’s volunteer leadership groups unless permission is sought and granted in advance by the Board of Directors.
- The Task Forces are accountable to their Institute Chair and Vice Chair, who are accountable to the ACAPT Board of Directors.
- All who are appointed to the Task Force will receive a letter acknowledging their appointment that may support promotion and/or tenure.
Timeline
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Task force members will meet or communicate at least monthly via conference calls and emails to review tasks completed and next steps to meet project milestones.
- Task force members may meet at CSM in person or virtually. The budget will determine if/what resources are available to support such a meeting.
- The Institute Chair and Vice Chair will conduct a virtual meeting quarterly with all task force chairs and vice chairs within that Institute to evaluate progress on their charge and to address any barriers or potential changes needed to their charge in response to changes in the profession.
- The Task Force will submit information to the Institute Chair and Vice Chair that may reflect their activity during the year and reported in ACAPT’s annual report, which is created in August and disseminated to members electronically in September.
- Task forces should be prepared to discuss their activity with ACAPT members at the Physical Therapy Education Leadership Conference (ELC) during a networking event created for the Institute.
- Task forces are expected to conclude their work by December of the calendar year in which they were created.
- If a task force needs more time than the calendar year for which they were created, the Chair of the task force will notify the Institute Chair. Together, they will evaluate what is causing the delay, evaluate if there are new circumstances informing the work not previously identified, and if there are additional resources needed. If the need for additional time is determined necessary by the Institute Chair, they will submit a request to the Board for an extension, to include how that may impact resources. The Board will make an assessment based on the charge, needed outcomes, and resources available and either extend the work for a limited time, expand the size of the task force to increase productivity to meet the charge and timeline, or disband the task force.
- The final work product(s) will reside on ACAPT’s website and shall be an ACAPT product.
Members
Chair: Debbie Prouty, MPT, EdD, GCS - Wingate University
Vice Chair: Michelle Keller, PT, MPT, CEEAA, EdD, Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Geriatrics - University of Mary Department of Physical Therapy
- Cheryl Babin, PT, DHA, MHA, CAGS, FNAP - Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
- Kimberly Beran-Shepler, PT, DPT, OCS, FNAP - Creighton University
- Dr. Michelle Keller, PT, MPT, CEEAA, EdD, Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Geriatrics - University of Mary Department of Physical Therapy
- Dana Maida, PT, DPT, Board-Certified Geriatric Clinical Specialist - University of Scranton
- Sally McCormack Tutt, PT, DPT, MPH, EdD - University of New England
- Patricia Mcginnis, PT, PhD, FNAP - Stockton University
- Debbie Prouty, MPT, EdD, GCS - Wingate University
- Myles Quiben, PT, PhD, DPT, FNAP - University of North Texas Health Science Center
- Shelene Thomas, PT, DPT, EdD, GCS, FNAP - Augustana University
- Sue Wenker, PT, PhD, MS - UW Madison