Working In and Branching Out

The year 2020 will remembered for many things: a contentious and divisive election, a worldwide pandemic with significant health care challenges and a paradigm shift in higher education where we have adapted our pedagogy to maintain safety while still maintaining rigor in our curriculum.  Additionally, transitioning out of our time-tested routines to work from home has also brought unforeseen impacts on us personally and professionally.

Since early March we have been doing our work in new ways.  To the credit of our colleagues and students, we have been able to keep our programs moving forward didactically and clinically.  We have adapted to work from Zoom, Teams and Skype and clinical education has shifted to wider contexts, including telemedicine and simulation.  Professional boundaries have blurred and conferences have gone virtual...often with positive outcomes.  All of this change has provided opportunities to branch out further than what we previously thought possible while, at the same time, working in our homes.

The Journal of Interprofessional Care developed a special issue on the COVID-19 Pandemic.  I was able to work with athletic training colleagues Jason Muchow and David Gallegos to author "Athletic trainers’ unique clinical and teamwork skills contribute on the frontlines during the COVID-19 pandemic: A discussion paper", on how AT's roles have adapted with these changing conditions.  This article was quoted in an infographic shared by the National Athletic Trainers' Association on its social media channels.

CITATION: Breitbach AP, Muchow JA, Gallegos DF. Athletic trainers' unique clinical and teamwork skills contribute on the frontlines during the COVID-19 pandemic: A discussion paper. J Interprof Care. 2020;34(5):607-613. DOI: 10.1080/13561820.2020.1792426

Numerous conferences transitioned to virtual formats.  We missed out on networking and relationship-building, but doing webinars with these new presentation platforms have enabled greater engagement with colleagues.

May 2020: National Academies of Practice - Virtual Forum

A Multi-Institutional Exploration of the Process and Impact of Introductory Interprofessional Education

• Ginge Kettenbach PhD, PT, FNAP;  Anthony Breitbach PhD, ATC, FASAHP; Kelly Lockeman PhD
• Presented the results from a multi-institutional study done by the Interprofessional Education Research Collaborative (IPE-RC)

July 2020: National Athletic Trainers' Association - Virtual Annual Meeting

Connecting Academic Programs and Clinical Practice Together to Inform System Improvement 

• Christopher W. O’Brien PhD, LAT, ATC; Anthony Breitbach PhD, ATC, FASAHP; Laura Dailey PhD
• Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions Affiliate Session at the NATA Meeting presenting their Clinical Education Task Force recommendations and data collected from the 2019 ASAHP Summit.

August 2020: Nexus Summit - Preconference Short Course

IPE 101: Developing a Framework for Building and Growing Your IPE Program

• Anthony Breitbach PhD, ATC, FASAHP; Kathrin A. Eliot, PhD, RDN/LD, FAND; Joy Doll OTD, OTR/L, FNAP
• Hosted by the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education and the American Interprofessional Health Collaborative featuring presentations on IPE Foundation, Pedagogy and Sustainability with several interactive breakout sessions.
• More information: https://summit2020.nexusipe.org/sessions/ipe-101-developing-framework-building-and-growing-your-ipe-program

September 2020: National Athletic Trainers' Association - Virtual Annual Meeting

Developing, Implementing and Assessing Interprofessional Education: A Best Practices Discussion

• Anthony Breitbach PhD, ATC, FASAHP; Brian Hughes EdD, ATC; Melissa Snyder PhD, LAT, ATC, CSCS; Katie Sniffen MS, ATC; Ryan Krzyzanowicz, DAT, ATC; Jaclyn Schwieterman EdD, ATC
• NATA Athletic Training Educators Conference Planning Committee Webinar featuring model practices for IPE from varying contexts along with a panel discussion.

September 2020: World Federation of Athletic Training and Therapy - Webinar

Perceived Job Satisfaction and Interprofessional Collaboration in International Sports Science and Sports Medicine

• Anthony Breitbach PhD, ATC, FASAHP; Gert Ulrich, Dr. phil, M.A.
• Presented results of international research project with colleague from Zurich, Switzerland.

September 2020: University of Cincinnati - College of Allied Health Sciences

Interprofessional Education Workshop

• Anthony Breitbach PhD, ATC, FASAHP; Kathrin A. Eliot, PhD, RDN/LD
• BE-Collaborative developmental workshop on IPE foundation, pedagogy and facilitation for University of Cincinnati faculty and administration.

October 2020: Ohio University - College of Health Sciences and Professions

Interprofessional Education - Trends and Opportunities

• Anthony Breitbach PhD, ATC, FASAHP; Kathrin A. Eliot, PhD, RDN/LD
• BE-Collaborative developmental workshop providing updates and leading a dialogue with Ohio University faculty and administration.

October 2020: Winona State University - College of Nursing and Health Sciences 

 

We Can Do This! Co-Creating Excellence Through Interprofessional Collaboration

• Anthony Breitbach PhD, ATC, FASAHP
• BE-Collaborative developmental seminar on IPE fundamentals with interactive breakout session for Winona State University faculty and administration.

Working together may have changed and we hope for in-person instruction/conferences returning in the future. However, our virtual interaction has not affected the ability to collaborate and connect. Regardless of the context, we will continue to make progress moving forward!

Focusing on Collaboration rather than Competition is the Key to our Future

Interprofessionalism and Athletic Training
By: Anthony Breitbach PhD, ATC

In 2007, after over 20 years of clinical practice as an Athletic Trainer, I moved to a faculty position as Director of the Athletic Training Program in the Doisy College of Health Sciences at Saint Louis University.

Over the years, working in both intercollegiate athletics and clinical outreach to high schools, I valued collaboration with other health professions.  Thus, when given the chance to be involved with SLU’s Center for Interprofessional Education and Research, I saw IPE as a vehicle for the AT profession to showcase our skillset and ability to be engaged in Interprofessional Collaborative Practice.  It did not take long to see the benefits of collaboration with other health professionals for me, our program and our profession.

At the same time, I was fortunate to serve on the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) Executive Committee for Education (ECE), participating in the development of the “Future Directions for Athletic Training Education” report that was accepted by the NATA Board of Directors in 2012.  Part of my role on the NATA ECE was to help develop a plan for strategic implementation of the recommendation for IPE in AT programs.

The first step in this implementation was to bring together a group of 23 colleagues to write a white paper “Interprofessional Education and Practice in Athletic Training” which went through peer review and was published in the Athletic Training Education Journal in 2015.  This paper was recognized by the Athletic Training Education Journal as the “Outstanding Manuscript for Advancing Educational Practice” in 2015: http://natajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.4085/1002170

Our IPEP Work Group formed the nucleus of the NATA IPEP Interest Group on LinkedIn, which now has over 500 members.  This Interest Group also has a Twitter feed, @NATA_IPEP, which has been active informing the AT profession about IPE and IPCP as well as demonstrating to the greater interprofessional community that AT can play an important role in their initiatives.

The NATA IPEP Interest group on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/8229902
The NATA IPEP Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/NATA_IPEP

I detailed this process with a guest editorial in the Journal of Interprofessional Care entitled, “The Organic and Strategic Growth of Interprofessionalism in Athletic Training” in February 2016: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3109/13561820.2016.1138676

This process was also presented in a poster presentation at the 2014 Collaborating Across Borders V Conference in Roanoke, Virginia.

IPE is part of the new CAATE Standards for Professional Programs in Athletic Training and I look forward to engaging with colleagues through scholarship and professional development to help facilitate the implementation of these standards.  Our research has found that IPE has grown in AT programs but only around 50% of them had IPE in 2015.

That research was published by the Athletic Training Education Journal in 2018: http://natajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.4085/130157

As a profession, we have moved forward in the interprofessional field.  In a sometimes contentious and competitive political environment, I find a power in IPE and IPCP that shows the value of the AT profession and through care coordination, collaboration and teamwork.

Katie and I, along with the late Professor Scott Reeves, wrote a Letter to the Editor in the Athletic Training Education Journal in 2017 on this topic: http://natajournals.org/doi/full/10.4085/1203202

It may seem like we have far to go as a profession, but we have made tremendous progress in recent years. However, I can already see that it is through collaboration and engagement that we can be fully positioned as integral members of the health care team.