Professional Formation is an on-line resource for teaching, learning and
assessing professionalism in healthcare education. Supported by a 2014 Arthur
Vining Davis Foundations grant, coupled with a 2017 Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation
grant, Professional Formation launched in mid-2020 with 12 interactive modules
for learners and two modules for faculty. With a sophisticated learning
management system, the modules contain over 150 videos, pre and post module
tests that gauge the learners’ change in perceptions, over 40 exercises and
five scales including the Cohen Perceived Stress Scale, Groningen Reflective Ability
Scale, Interpersonal Reactivity Index, Interprofessional Education Competency
Scale and the Novack Values Behavior Concordance Scale.
Professional Formation Supports Professionalism
Competency in Education
All major medical education accrediting and
professional organizations affirm that professionalism is a core competency.
Unfortunately, many medical schools and residency, physician assistant and
nurse practitioner programs struggle to deliver high quality curricula in
teaching, assessing and remediating professionalism. Professional Formation
offers faculty and learners the resources for effective professionalism and
professional formation curricula, as well as tools for assessment, remediation
and research.
The Interprofessional Education Collaborative
(IPEC), comprised of six national associations of schools of health
professions, in 2016 released a list of four core competencies including
Values/Ethics for Interprofessional Practice, Roles/Responsibilities,
Interprofessional Communication, and Teams and Teamwork. Each of these core
competencies has eight to 10 sub-competencies, totaling 39. Eighty-two percent
of the sub-competencies are supported by Professional Formation module learning
goals.
Research Demonstrates the Value of Professional
Formation
In the Professional Formation pilot program
conducted under the aegis of the Macy grant from 2017 to 2020, learners completed
over 2,100 pre and post module tests. Initial results indicated the learners’
scores increased on average over 30 percent for certain modules indicating a
positive change in perceptions. More research studies are ongoing.
Module Integration
Professional Formation modules can be used with
one professional discipline or across multiple disciplines as the modules have
been written by interprofessionals and many of the videos taped in an
interprofessional environment. The authors of these modules bring many years of
clinical and educational experience in helping learners grow personally and
professionally. All modules have been reviewed by an interprofessional group.
The authors have been reflective about what has promoted their own growth in
these domains. In working through the content and exercises, learners will
become more aware of basic principles and practices for their own profession as
well as for professions of other healthcare providers.
Please contact us if you’d like a
tour of this unique resource.