As a student in an occupational therapy assistant program I have to take a class called Interprofessional Education. The class is taught in a constructivist manner and is by far my most frustrating class. Before a class meeting we are told to get on the internet and research stroke, or obesity, or diabetes and be ready to discuss it. Then, during class, we're presented with a vignette (and I wish the "facilitators" would learn how to say that word properly) to discuss. We're supposed to talk about things like how the various medical professionals involved in a case can communicate and coordinate the patient's care. The answer is - I don't know. I'm not in medical care yet and I don't know how information is or could be shared. As a group of students we can come up with various blue sky ideas, but in the real world time and money constraints exist whereas in our class they don't. I would find the class more valuable, and less frustrating, if they would just tell us the best way to coordinate a patient's care among a handful of professionals in the real world.OK, now you're scaring me.
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Monday, February 4, 2013
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I posted a response last night, but don't know where it went, so I'll take another shot.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in a doc program in a practice discipline, I was talking with a former prof from my master's program. The program had decided to waive the usual 2-yr professional practice req for an outstanding student who had just finished his bachelor's and the school had decided never to allow that again. The grad program's typical seminar worked because everyone had professional experience (most well beyond 2 yrs), giving them valuable insights and specialized knowledge. He had neither and the seminars were weakened because he had to be carried. He had nothing useful to contribute and he learned much less because of his limited background.
You are right; your class is not appropriately formatted for a prior-to-practice program. You should be given specific ideas and how they might be implemented and absolutely should be given specific parameters, in compliance with federal patient-privacy laws. In theory, they sound good; in practice, they can be a serious roadblock to patient care and you need to know what is permitted and what is not.
I'm glad my main OTA courses are taught using direct instruction: read the book, attend lecture, do some exercises to learn how to apply what you're learning, and get tested on it. I like that way of learning.
ReplyDeleteI think this is either the first or second year that the IPE class has been taught, which explains its somewhat experimental feel, but it doesn't explain the constructivist design. Because no one in the class is learning the same thing, tests are, um... interesting. Here, verbatim, are the directions from the final from Fall term.
Write 10 complete sentences. 1 sentence = 1 fact.
I do NOT want paragraphs. I do NOT want dissertations, I want stand alone sentences with each sentence containing 1 fact. I want 10 sentences each containing 1 fact about diabetes.
Example:
1) The sky is blue.
2) The grass is green.
3) Cells are made up of atoms.
Tell me 10 facts that you learned about diabetes.
Tell me 10 facts that you learned about obesity.
Tell me 10 facts that you learned about what the other professions do.
The class is very high stress, and very low value.
What on earth?
ReplyDeleteI'm curious; did your class specifically address the HIPAA privacy regs and how they are implemented? What info may be shared and with whom? Permission forms? If not, it should have done.
We took a good look at HIPAA in my occupational therapy classes, but I honestly can't remember if the IPE class looked at privacy issues or not. You're absolutely right, if the class is looking at communication among professionals, it also needs to look at privacy concerns.
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