Online, Virtual and Technology-Facilitated Interprofessional Learning

Online and virtual learning using a variety of formats has long been used in interprofessional practice and education to transcend time and space, and other well-known barriers of interprofessional work. By necessity, the COVID-19 pandemic created an unforeseen urgency to convert all education, not just interprofessional education, to distance learning and most health care to telehealth. This profound shift highlights the power and limitations of technology-facilitated education and practice. For some, this conversion meant an acceleration of online synchronous and asynchronous learning and novel flexible models, but for others it was a total disruption, stressing systems during the pivot from face-to-face to virtual. The Online/Virtual and Technology-Facilitated Learning and Practice Track includes seminars and lightning talks representing both experiences: those who have experience in leveraging virtual interprofessional practice and learning models and those for whom this is a new approach.

Learning Objectives:

By participating in the Online/Virtual and Technology-Facilitated Learning and Practice Track, you will be able to:

1. Describe virtual/online and technology-facilitated models of learning used in interprofessional practice and education.

2. Identify educational technology platforms that could be used for remote IPE.

3. Discuss how IPE programs that have transitioned from traditional to remote learning platforms can be evaluated.

4. Discuss how interprofessional simulation can be used for remote IPE to achieve IPEC competencies.

Reflective Questions:

1. What models of remote IPE could be implemented to achieve IPEC competencies at your institution? What ideas do you have to enhance these models to advance the science of IP teaching and learning?

2. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted health science education, forcing quick adaptation to online learning. How does the current necessity of online IPE during a pandemic help or hinder IPE programs?

3. Health science faculty have used remote learning to overcome social-distancing barriers, leveraging these challenges into opportunities. How are we better preparing the modern learner for future practice as we embrace the current necessity of remote IPE?

4. What concerns do you have about the competence of IP learners who are only able to engage in virtual/online IPE during their prelicensure program (given barriers to traditional clinical during a pandemic), and to what extent can simulation replicate traditional in-person experiences?

Resources

• McCutcheon, L. R., Alzghari, S. K., Lee, Y. R., Long, W. G., & Marquez, R. (2017).
• Interprofessional education and distance education: A review and appraisal of the current literature. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, 9(4), 729-736.
• Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Med Ed portal – freely available resources
• International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL) – freely available resources https://www.inacsl.org/
• Transitioning to IPE Online During a Pandemic - resources shared by colleagues during Nexus webinar https://nexusipe.org/informing/resource-center/transitioning-online-ipe-pandemic