ITHS Faculty Recognized for their Work in Interprofessional Practice and Education

30 Aug ITHS Faculty Recognized for their Work in Interprofessional Practice and Education

This article is an announcement from the Center for Health Sciences Interprofessional Education, Research and Practice (CHSIE).

On Tuesday, August 22, the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education announced the University of Washington Center for Health Sciences Interprofessional Education, Research and Practice (CHSIE) as the winner of the 2017 NEXUS Award in recognition of their unique collaboration with the University of Washington Medical Center and Advanced Heart Failure (AHF) care teams to transform heart failure care.

The NEXUS Award recognizes an exemplary educational institution, health system, clinic, and/or community organization for innovative contributions that transform care delivery, improve health outcomes, and decrease costs. Dr. Erin Blakeney accepted the Nexus Award in Minneapolis on behalf of the collaboration. Dr. Blakeney, research assistant professor in the Department of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Informatics in the UW School of Nursing gave a 15-minute oral presentation describing the approach, outcomes and next steps of the collaboration.

Other members of the CHSIE team who attended the conference – Amanda Moore, Debra Liner, Mayumi Willgerodt, Nanci Murphy and Nicole Woodard – were recognized by Dr. Barbara Brandt, Director of the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education, and approximately 400 conference attendees. Dr. Brenda Zierler, Professor in Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Informatics, UW School of Nursing, Co-Director of CHSIE, and Principal Investigator of the two HRSA grants supporting the healthcare transformation initiative and the academic-practice partnership that was recognized, was unable to attend the conference due to family obligations.

Beginning in 2014, CHSIE, the HRSA grant teams and the advanced heart failure units of the UW Medical Center have worked together to transform heart failure care by linking health professions education and interprofessional collaborative practice. Together, they are creating, transforming, testing and scaling-up an integrated collaborative learning and practice model that addresses the Quadruple Aim. The interprofessional quality improvement initiative is multi-phased and is ongoing.

Funding for this transformative initiative is provided by two grants from the Health Resources and Services Administration: HRSA grant D09HP28670, Education-Practice Partnership to Improve Advanced Heart Failure (PI-Brenda Zierler) and HRSA grant UD7HP26909 Nurse Education, Practice, Quality, and Retention (NEPQR), Interprofessional Collaborative Practice (IPCP) for Advanced Heart Failure (AHF) (PI-Brenda Zierler).

ITHS Team

Drs. Brenda Zierler and Erin Blakeney leverage their expertise in education and interprofessional collaborative practice to lead the ITHS program in Collaboration and Multidisciplinary Team Science.