Development of a pilot interprofessional education workshop for healthcare students and assessment of interprofessional collaborative competency attainment.

We describe the development and student evaluation of a collaborative health service provider and higher education institution initiative designed to deliver an Interprofessional Education (IPE) pilot workshop program for healthcare students. The aim was to investigate whether an IPE workshop would result in improved student confidence in self-reported interprofessional competencies using the Interprofessional Collaborative Competency Attainment Scale (ICCAS) tool. The workshops involved interprofessional student groups working on a patient case followed by a facilitator-led discussion and patient representative interaction. There were three different voluntary, extra-curricular workshops. A total of 99 students registered, from 3rd to 5th year undergraduate and 2nd year graduate entry healthcare programs at a single Irish university in February 2022. Ninety-three post-workshop survey responses showed statistically significant improvements in the ICCAS subscales of Communication, Collaboration, Roles and Responsibilities, Collaborative Patient/Family-Centered Approach, and Team Functioning; Conflict Management showed less change. Students reported positively on the benefit of the patient representative, the workshop format, and the opportunity to collaborate with students from other professions. Our findings indicate that this was a beneficial and effective way to deliver IPE across a range of healthcare professions that led to improvements in self-reported interprofessional competencies.

Psychosocial Impact of COVID-19 Nursing Home Restrictions on Visitors of Residents With Cognitive Impairment: A Cross-Sectional Study as Part of the Engaging Remotely in Care (ERiC) Project.

Background: COVID-19 has disproportionately affected older people. Visiting restrictions introduced since the start of the pandemic in residential care facilities (RCFs) may impact negatively on visitors including close family, friends, and guardians. We examined the effects of COVID-19 visiting restrictions on measures of perceived loneliness, well-being, and carer quality of life (QoL) amongst visitors of residents with and without cognitive impairment (CI) in Irish RCFs. Methods: We created a cross-sectional online survey. Loneliness was measured with the UCLA brief loneliness scale, psychological well-being with the WHO-5 Well-being Index and carer QoL with the Adult Carer QoL Questionnaire (support for caring subscale). Satisfaction with care ("increased/same" and "decreased") was measured. A history of CI was reported by respondents. Sampling was by convenience with the link circulated through university mail lists and targeted social media accounts for 2 weeks in June 2020. Results: In all, 225 responses were included of which 202 noted whether residents had reported CI. Most of the 202 identified themselves as immediate family (91%) and as female (82%). The majority (67%) were aged between 45 and 64 years. Most (80%) reported that their resident had CI. Approximately one-third indicated reduced satisfaction (27%) or that restrictions had impaired communication with nursing home staff (38%). Median loneliness scores were 4/9, well-being scores 60/100 and carer QoL scores 10/15. Visitors of those with CI reported significantly lower well-being (p = 0.006) but no difference in loneliness (p = 0.114) or QoL (p = 0.305). Reported CI (p = 0.04) remained an independent predictors of lower WHO-5 scores, after adjusting for age, sex, RCF location, and dementia stage (advanced), satisfaction with care (reduced), and perception of staff support measured on the Adult Carer QoL Questionnaire. Conclusion: This survey suggests that many RCF visitors experienced low psychosocial and emotional well-being during the COVID-19 lockdown. Visitors of residents with CI report significantly poorer well-being as measured by the WHO-5 than those without. Additional research is required to understand the importance of disrupted caregiving roles resulting from visiting restrictions on well-being, particularly on visitors of residents with CI and how RCFs and their staff can support visitors to mitigate these.

A systematic review evaluating the impact of post-registration nursing and midwifery education on practice.

Given the current focus on evidence-based practice, it is surprising that there is a dearth of systematic evidence of the impact on practice of post-registration nursing and midwifery education. The systematic review presented here formed part of a national review of post-registration nursing and midwifery education in Ireland [Health Service Executive, 2008. Report of the Post-registration Nursing and Midwifery Education Review Group: Changing practice to support service delivery. Health Service Executive, Dublin]. The review focuses specifically on the impact on practice from the perspective of nurses, midwives, patients, carers, education and health service providers. Sixty-one (61) studies met the criteria set. These studies were mainly of a retrospective and descriptive nature, often with small cohorts, set within one educational setting. The findings indicate that students benefit from post-registration programmes in relation to changes in attitudes, perceptions, knowledge and in skill acquisition. There is also some evidence that students apply their newly acquired attitudes, knowledge and skills. There is however limited evidence of the direct impact on organisational and service delivery changes, and on benefits to patients and carers. It can be concluded that the impact of post-registration nursing and midwifery education on practice has yet to be fully explored through a more systematic and coherent programme evaluation approach.