Creating the Evidence through Comparative Effectiveness Research for Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice by Deploying a National Intervention Network and a National Data Repository

Abstract

Background: There is currently a resurgence of interest in interprofessional education and collaborative practice (IPECP) and its potential to positively impact health outcomes at both the patient level and population level, healthcare delivery, and health professions education. This resurgence of interest led to the creation of the National Center on Interprofessional Collaborative Practice and Education in October 2012. Methods: This paper describes three intertwined knowledge generation strategies of the National Center on Interprofessional Practice and Education: (1) the development of a Nexus Incubator Network, (2) the undertaking of comparative effectiveness research, and (3) the creation of a National Center Data Repository. Results: As these strategies are implemented over time they will result in the production of empirically grounded knowledge regarding the direction and scope of the impact, if any, of IPECP on well-defined health and healthcare outcomes including the possible improvement of the patient experience of care. Conclusions: Among the motivating factors for the National Center and the three strategies adopted and addressed herein is the need for rigorously produced, scientifically sound evidence regarding IPECP and whether or not it has the capacity to positively affect the patient experience of care, the health of populations, and the per capita cost of healthcare.

Reflections From the Intersection of Health Professions Education and Clinical Practice: The State of the Science of Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice

“…To rectify the analytic gaps identified (see above) and their consequences for the field of IPECP, the National Center has set a course to actively pursue three strategies identified as necessary to move the field of IPECP forward-(1) developing a research agenda for IPECP, 32 (2) nurturing IPECP intervention research grounded in CER study designs 2 and the assumptions of critical realism, 3 and (3) creating a sound informatics platform to support the first two strategies. 32,34,39 Chart 1 displays the three National Center strategies, each strategy's components, and the analytic gaps being rectified by the strategy, as well as the projected outcome of the intertwined strategies. Ultimately, we expect that these three strategies will produce generalizable findings that will facilitate the assessment of IPECP's effectiveness, allowing for an examination of the return on investment for IPECP efforts, helping to identify effective interprofessional care team models, and assisting with ascertaining how and/or if IPECP impacts population health.…”

“…While data collection is ongoing at present, the proof of concept is well under way as analyses of these data have already begun. 32,34,39 Interprofessional education (IPE) "occurs when learners from two or more professions learn about, from and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes." 6 Collaborative Practice (CP) "happens when multiple health-related workers from different professional backgrounds work together with patients, families, care givers and communities to deliver the highest quality of care."…”

“…The National Center has also forged partnerships with multiple IPE, CP, and IPECP interventions throughout the country; each intervention has sound scientific work plans, welldefined research questions, and clearly identified outcomes. 32,34,39 From these partnerships, multiple levels of data are being collected, including deidentified individual-level data from patients, providers, and learners, and, whenever possible, standardized data are collected. In addition, health professions education institutional-level data on IPE programs, cost-of-care data, and intervention-outcome-specific data are being collected.…”

“…3,32,34 Interventions are purposive change strategies that can be tested, and the intervention-based research needed to move the field of IPECP forward should use an array of CER study designs rather than valorizing randomized controlled trials (one of many CER approaches) as the single preferred method for knowledge creation as some recent Cochrane reports have done. 28,33 CER comprises a constellation of methods that can be used to design empirical research studies, 34 and we should use as many as possible to study IPECP interventions. For example, quasi-experimental interventions with clear outcomes and control groups can produce information that can lead to meaningful action.…”

“…The National Center is working on one such informatics platform called the National Center Data Repository. 32,34,39 This repository is built on a comprehensive relational database with a user-friendly data input mechanism, and supports performing analyses. The National Center has also forged partnerships with multiple IPE, CP, and IPECP interventions throughout the country; each intervention has sound scientific work plans, welldefined research questions, and clearly identified outcomes.…”