Interprofessional transformation of clinical education: The first six years of the Veterans Affairs Centers of Excellence in Primary Care Education

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ABSTRACT

This paper describes the Centers of Excellence in Primary Care Education (CoEPCE), a seven-site collaborative project funded by the Office of Academic Affiliations (OAA) within the Veterans Health Administration of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The CoEPCE was established to fulfill OAA’s vision of large-scale transformation of the clinical learning environment within VA primary care settings. This was accomplished by funding new Centers within VA facilities to develop models of interprofessional education (IPE) to teach health professions trainees to deliver high quality interprofessional team-based primary care to Veterans. Using reports and data collected and maintained by the National Coordinating Center over the first six years of the project, we describe program inputs, the multicomponent intervention, activities undertaken to develop the intervention, and short-term outcomes. The findings have implications for lessons learned that can be considered by others seeking large-scale transformation of education within the clinical workplace and the development of interprofessional clinical learning environments. Within the VA, the CoEPCE has laid the foundation for IPE and collaborative practice, but much work remains to disseminate this work throughout the national VA system.

KEYWORDS:

• Clinical Learning Environment
• Faculty
• Health Professions
• Interprofessional Education
• Team-based
• Trainees
• Veterans

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the following individuals for their contributions to the project: Malcolm Cox, MD; Ward Newcomb, MD; David Latini, PhD, LMSW; and Jennifer Hayes, EdM. Logic model development was informed by Bridget O’Brien, PhD, Anne Poppe, PhD, Anais Tuepker, PhD, and Mimi Singh, MD. Bridget O’Brien, PhD and Mary Dolansky, PhD, RN, FAAN provided thoughtful reviews of this manuscript. In addition, this project could not be where it is today without the leadership and staff within VA’s Office of Academic Affiliations and Office of Primary Care. Special thanks to the interprofessional leadership, faculty, clinical staff, trainees and academic affiliates of CoEPCE Centers at Boise, Idaho; Cleveland, Ohio; Houston, Texas; Los Angeles, California; San Francisco, California; Seattle, Washington and West Haven, Connecticut.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the writing and content of this paper.