Team-based Care

Prepare PA students for team-based care through interprofessional education.

Using multiple approaches throughout the CWRU PA program, our students explore attitudes of interprofessional collaboration with specific attention given to the broadening of the team approach beyond the conventional physician-PA team approach. Interprofessional learning happens in the classroom, in simulated experiences and in the clinical arena.

100% of our PA students take Collaborative Practice I and get classroom case-based interprofessional education. This is a Case Western Reserve University school wide endeavor where over 600 students from the medical, nursing, dental and social work schools come together to explore their knowledge, skills, and attitudes of interprofessional learning, with specific attention to their understanding of the scope of practice of their own and each other’s professions.

All of our students get further in depth IPE training using didactic sessions, as well as opportunities to put their skills into practice using simulation teaching methods and/or community service and experiential learning sites. In addition to their experiences in clinical rotations, they have the real life experience of using IPE skills in clinical practice sites doing quality improvement projects.

Teaching Modalities Project Name % of Class 2022 Completed % of Class 2023 Completed % of Class 2024 Completed
Classroom Knowledge and Skills Acquisition Team STEPPS 100% 100% 100%
Foundational Course Team Skills for Collaborative Care Foundational Course Team Skills/ Collaborative Practice I 100% 100% 100%
Simulation of IPE Physical Diagnosis Skillset Physical Diagnosis - PA and Nursing Students 100% 100% 100%
Simulation of IPE Communication Skills Mock Page - PA and Nursing Students 100% 100% 100%
Simulation of IPE Communication Skills Infant with Fever SIM - PA and PharmD Students 100% 100% 100%
Community Service Learning on Advocacy Student Run Health Clinic 33% 50% 26%
Experiential Learning IPE Health Advocacy Acquisition CareStrong - Health Screenings at Farmers Markets, Shelters, and Food Banks 100% 100% 100%
Experiential Learning IPE Health Advocacy Skills Acquisition School Based Lead, Height, Weight, and Vision Screenings 0%*suspended due to COVID 100% 100%
Experiential Learning IPE Health Advocacy Skills Acquisition COVID Vaccine Training and Clinics 100% 100% 0%*no longer active
Experiential Learning IPE Oral Skills Acquisition Oral Medicine PA Collaboration (OMPAC) 97% 100% 100%
Clinical Team Based Care Quality Improvement Project 100% 100% Will start in July 2024

All of these educational efforts serve to encourage interprofessional learning of communication and exam skills, strengthen team based interactions, as well as facilitate internalization of the professional values of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) Competencies.