Longitudinal faculty development to improve interprofessional collaboration and practice: a multisite qualitative study at five US academic health centers

On April 19, 2023, the BMJ published a study co-authored by two Emory Woodruff Health Sciences Center faculty members on the effect of faculty development on interprofessional collaboration and practice at five US academic health centers including Emory University, Harvard University, Indiana University, the University of California at San Francisco, the University of Massachusetts and the University of Minnesota. The authors of this study were Elizabeth A Rider (Harvard) , Calvin Chou (UCSF), Corrine Abraham, DNP, RN (Emory), Peter Weissmann (Univ. Minnesota), Debra K Litzelman (Indiana Univ.), David Hatem (Univ. Mass.), and William Branch, Jr, MD (Emory).

According to the study, “Our faculty development program for IP faculty leaders at five US academic health centers achieved relational learning with attitudinal changes that can enhance collaboration with others. We observed meaningful changes in participants with decreased biases, increased self-reflection, empathy and understanding of others’ perspectives, and enhanced IP teamwork.”

IP bias, assumptions, and conflicts limit the capacity of healthcare teams to leverage the expertise of their members to meet the growing complexities of patient needs and optimize healthcare outcomes. This study aimed to understand how a longitudinal faculty development program, designed to optimize IP learning, influenced its participants in their IP roles.

“Health care has traditionally been delivered by multiple professions, each of which developed in parallel and have learned to work together following separate pathways to care for the patient. Today, we see that many advantages and efficiencies can be gained by teamwork, in which professionals work together closely, share plans, goals and tasks, and leverage each other’s roles.

Health institutions, such as Emory Healthcare, are developing programs to enable Interprofessional education and collaborative care to overcome the traditions of separateness, but this requires changes in longstanding attitudes and mastery of new knowledge and skills. It has been a slow process across the nation.

Here at Emory changes are underway. I developed a program, co-facilitated with Corrine Abraham, DNP, at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, for faculty leaders from the professions of Medicine, Nursing, Physical Therapy, Physicians Assistants, and others to facilitate the planned changes advantageous to our institution by building relationships and changes in relational attitudes, knowledge, values and skills to lay the groundwork for enhanced working together by these faculty leaders and those they influence. The three iterations at Emory have trained about 30 faculty leaders so far and we plan to continue. Three other institutions (Harvard/Boston Children’s, UCSF, and Indiana University) are working with me, as principal investigator, to deliver and assess the effectiveness of the program.

Our study being published by BMJ Open is available to all free of charge. The study provides deep and detailed understanding of shifts in attitudes and values and acquisition of skills during the program that will transform the interprofessional collaboration of graduating faculty members at the four schools, thereby overcoming traditional barriers and enabling them to work together more effectively on Interprofessional teams and educational projects.”- William Branch, MD, the Carter Smith, Sr. Professor of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine

The perspectives and experiences of IP faculty leaders who completed a program aimed to optimize their capacity to function effectively in today’s complex health systems were assessed in-depth. The impact of the previously well-evaluated, widely-applied longitudinal nine-month faculty development in humanism program which was newly adapted for IP learners, was examined.

The study’s themes were summarized and considered as competencies to be applied in teaching including

1. Intrapersonal competencies (within oneself): reflective capacity/self-awareness, becoming aware of biases, empathy for self and mindfulness.
2. Interpersonal competencies (interacting with others): listening, understanding others’ perspectives, appreciation and respect for colleagues, and empathy for others.
3. Systems-level competencies (interacting within the system): resilience, conflict engagement, team dynamics, and utilization of colleagues as resources.

In summary, the study uncovered meaningful changes in participants’ ingrained attitudes and shifts in relational values and behaviors associated with completing the curriculum. The findings suggest that attention to relationships and relational learning among IP faculty leaders could play a vital role in mitigating bias and assumptions, increasing self-reflection, understanding others’ perspectives, and enhancing interprofessional collaborative care (IPC), teamwork, and practice. Importantly, the results demonstrate that this deep relational learning is a necessary catalyst for more impactful IPC among faculty leaders which is an achievable goal using the study’s described methods and approach with local facilitation available at many healthcare institutions.