The Center for Interprofessional Education highlighted team-based care findings in three poster presentations.
In December 2023, a team from The Center for Interprofessional Education (C-IPE) escaped the cold Michigan weather and traveled to Florida to participate in the annual Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Forum. The IHI Forum, which brings together health care visionaries, improvement professionals, world leaders and industry newcomers, focuses on quality improvement in health care. The C-IPE team showcased work being done in the areas of team-based care across the University of Michigan and Michigan Medicine.
C-IPE partnered with the University of Michigan School of Public Health and Michigan Medicine’s Office of Patient Experience and Wellness Office to share their findings in three poster presentations. Attendees included Vani Patterson, administrative director of C-IPE; Lauren Gardner, master of health services administration candidate in the School of Public Health and Chloe Miwa, Michigan Medicine administrative fellow.
“I am so proud of Chloe and Lauren for having their important work accepted and presented at the 2023 IHI Forum. There was significant conversation around their work as health care leaders are looking for creative solutions and approaches to navigate the overwhelming challenges of health care systems,” said Patterson.
IHI poster presentations
Team-Based Care: Do Patients Have the Same Expectations and Experiences as Providers?
Lauren Gardner, Vani Patterson, Thomas Bishop, Kate Balzer, Melissa Cunningham, Mike Scheuber, Devin Lippert, Vinoothna Bavireddy, Matthew Jerome, Sandy Goel, Shelagh Saenz, Rajesh S. Mangrulkar
This research further explored the findings of a prior analysis that examined patient perception of team-based care. Methods included patient interviews and focus groups, leading to findings that demonstrate a need for professional development resources focused on interprofessional practice to promote patient advocacy and team-based health care approaches. Findings suggest that patients are not adequately educated on the benefits of team-based care and that more collaboration is needed between C-IPE and other systems resources, such as the Office of Patient Experience.
Experiential IPE Opportunity: Leveraging Students to Optimize Workflows in Ambulatory Care
Chloe Miwa, Vani Patterson
C-IPE and the School of Public Health partnered together to develop a model for an experiential IPE opportunity in primary care clinics. The model would provide mutual benefits for clinic teams and graduate students with the goal of enhancing clinical workflows to reduce administrative burden. Beginning in January 2024, C-IPE will pilot a model, where a student collaborates with two primary care clinics over a 15-week course to conduct workflow process improvement in each clinic. The student will learn about and implement two continuous improvement models by aligning the U-M IPE competencies with key learning objectives. This experience will create mutual benefits as the student develops continuous improvement skills and clinic teams receive actionable recommendations to reduce their administrative burden.
Investigating Trends in Psychological Safety for Multiple Ambulatory Care Team Members
Chloe Miwa, Vani Patterson, Matthew Jerome, Brandon Swinney
C-IPE partnered with the Wellness Office to understand how five different ambulatory care roles perceive psychological safety and team-based care depending on their seniority in the organization. The team analyzed data from the annual employee engagement survey, administered in March 2023. They determined there was a positive association between seniority and positive responses (agree/strongly agree) to the questions they analyzed, whereas there was a negative association between duration of affiliation and positive responses. Next steps include looking at why there is a conflicting result for perceived psychological safety across seniority and how internal mobility programs might be bolstered.
Team reflections
The team returned from the IHI Forum with new ideas, experiences and feedback that will help guide them as they continue to work to improve the quality of patient care through team-based collaboration. Below are reflections from the team about their experience.
“One of my key takeaways from this year’s IHI Forum was that there is a keen interest and curiosity in leveraging health professions students tackling the challenges of health care today. If mobilized into action, this is a great opportunity for our students to function in the role of learners as leaders, which I think is among the greatest learning opportunities there is.”
Vani Patterson, administrative director, Center for Interprofessional Education
“I first explored the field of interprofessional education as an undergraduate student. When joining Michigan Medicine, I was excited to work with the Center for Interprofessional Education because I could continue immersing myself in this field through new and exciting opportunities, such as presenting posters at the IHI Forum.
“While attending this conference with the C-IPE team, I saw one of my dearest mentors, who I have not seen in person for nearly five years. Reconnecting with her was a reminder of how many wonderful individuals are committed to this work and want to collaborate on improving health care. It was an experience that has only further inspired me to keep engaging in this field as I move forward in my career.”
Chloe Miwa, administrative fellow, Michigan Medicine
“It was a great opportunity to get direct feedback on the work that we are doing at C-IPE to advance understanding of the patient experience as it relates to collaborative care practices at Michigan Medicine. I was encouraged to hear that the challenges we are experiencing are not unique to our institution and I was able to hear feedback from individuals at health care institutions across the country. I learned about all of the exciting innovations that are occurring in health care across all sectors — we are all trying to improve the health care that is delivered to patients every day while making it safe, high quality, and efficient at the same time. It was striking how much work needs to be done, and I hope that I can contribute to this mission throughout my career.
“I am super gracious for the opportunity to attend the IHI Forum and present research done in partnership among the C-IPE, Wellness Office and Office of Patient Experience. Thanks is especially owed to Dr. Raj Mangrulkar and Vani Patterson for spearheading this work and allowing me to participate!”
Lauren Gardner, master of health services administration student, School of Public Health