Wright State, Cedarville, Kettering Medical Center launch new clinical training model

From left, Kettering Health Network clinician educators Eva Reisenbuchler, Megan Lash, Danielle Difiore, Cassie Brashear, Robin Sorrell and Connie Vann will train Wright State nursing and medical students and Cedarville pharmacy students in a new clinical program.

Wright State nursing and medical students will train alongside Cedarville University pharmacy students at the Kettering Medical Center in a collaboration designed to give the students practical clinical experience.

The students will train with health care providers in Kettering’s trauma unit under a new program called the Interprofessional Dedicated Education Unit (IDEU).

The program provides a hands-on clinical learning environment that trains nursing, medical and pharmacy students to improve collaboration. Students will also have opportunities to be an integral part of the trauma unit’s workflow and culture, giving them a realistic work experience.

Kettering personnel, including trauma nurses and surgeons and staff pharmacists, will be trained as clinical educators and will teach and mentor the students.

The project involves the Wright State College of Nursing and Health, the Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine, Cedarville University School of Pharmacy and Kettering Medical Center. It is being launched as a pilot project during the spring 2015 semester.

The project is unique and innovative because it combines two effective education concepts: a Dedicated Education Unit and Interprofessional Education.

This model will prepare the next generation of health care professionals to function more collaboratively to positively impact the care patients receive.

Brenda Kuhn, chief nursing officer in the Kettering Health Network, said, “Integrating the concepts of Interprofessional Education and a Dedicated Education Unit model is a pioneering approach that may enhance the student’s ability to collaborate with other disciplines as well as increase role satisfaction among clinician educators at the bedside. Kettering Health Network is privileged to be a participant in this innovative project which we expect will demonstrate the benefits of professional partnerships and the positive impact on patient quality outcomes.”

A Dedicated Education Unit is a clinical setting used as a teaching and learning environment through the collaborative efforts of students, health care team members, management and faculty. Students work closely with health care providers on real patients. The concept has grown in popularity around the United States in the last 10 years and has been shown to increase new nurse competence and safe practices.

In Interprofessional Education, a team consisting of a medical student, student nurse and pharmacy student work together to care for patients with unit staff. Research suggests that a greater level of collaboration between health care providers, especially between nurses and physicians, improves quality of care and patient outcomes.

Rosalie Mainous, the dean of the College of Nursing and Health, said the concept meets recommendations from the Institute of Medicine that say nurses and other health care professionals should work in teams to ensure better patient outcomes.

“It answers many of the problems we currently have in our health care delivery system and in the educational models we are using,” Mainous said. “It will eventually help with the shortage of nursing faculty that we have. Students will have a better experience and be able to better transition to practice quicker and more competently, and they will learn to work as team members.”

“Cedarville School of Pharmacy is excited to partner with Wright State and Kettering on this initiative, as we desire for our students to value the effectiveness of interprofessional collaboration in patient-centered care,” said Aleda Chen, vice chair and assistant professor of pharmacy practice at Cedarville’s School of Pharmacy. “Our students are very excited to participate in this experience as well — we had more applicants than spots available, as they recognize the unique educational opportunity the IDEU presents.”

Mainous is the IDEU project director and will also lead a research project on participants’ experiences in collaboration with co-investigators from Kettering Health Network, Cedarville University and the Boonshoft School of Medicine.

The Boonshoft School of Medicine developed a simulation comparing IDEU students with students who did not go through the program. Project leaders hope to learn that students who train in the IDEU program work better together than nonparticipants, Mainous said.

Mainous said that the innovative teaching model has great potential for improving students’ transition to practice and could be used in many hospital settings.

Douglas Paul, director of the Kettering Medical Center Trauma Program and associate professor at the Boonshoft School of Medicine, said, “Teamwork has been proven to improve the efficiencies and outcomes in many industries. We continue to strive for optimal performance in medicine and believe that the Interprofessional Dedicated Education Unit model will be a catalyst to achieving that goal.”