How Interprofessional Training Shapes Quality of Geriatric Care

Collaboration is paramount in providing high-quality geriatric care. USC's Interprofessional Education and Collaboration for Geriatrics (IECG) program trains over 150 students annually from seven health professions to foster teamwork and address the complex needs of older adults. A recent study published in the Journal of Interprofessional Care underscores the lasting impact of IECG on USC health sciences graduates (1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
A community-based geriatric interprofessional education experience and its impact on post-graduate collaborative practice

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What is IECG?

Interprofessional Education and Collaboration for Geriatrics (IECG) is a program at the University of Southern California (USC) designed to train healthcare students from various professions to work together effectively in providing care to older adults. The program emphasizes the importance of teamwork and collaboration among different healthcare providers in addressing the complex needs of the elderly population. By fostering interprofessional education, IECG aims to improve the quality of care for older adults and enhance patient outcomes.

Researchers surveyed graduates one to three years after completing IECG to assess how the program influenced their practice. The findings were significant: 81% of the graduates worked on interprofessional teams, 80% reported that IECG had a major impact on their practice, and all confirmed they regularly used the assessment tools learned in the program.

“We've really seen over the last decade that this program consistently improves health profession graduate students’ interprofessional knowledge and attitudes and also helps them prepare them for collaborative practice,” said Dawn Joosten-Hagye, first author on the study and professor of social work at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. “This is one of the first studies to actually look at how students sustain their interprofessional education training.”

The program was initiated 14 years ago by study co-author Jo Marie Reilly, a professor of clinical family medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, who saw the need for an innovative training model focused on the complex health care needs of older adults. The collaborative effort has since included students from dentistry, medicine, occupational therapy, pharmacy, physical therapy, gerontology, psychology, and social work.

Looking forward, the study’s authors believe the IECG model could be adapted to address the needs of other populations with complex health care needs, such as people with disabilities, cancer patients, and children.

Reference:

1. A community-based geriatric interprofessional education experience and its impact on post-graduate collaborative practice - (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13561820.2024.2371337)

Source-Eurekalert