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!

August 2019 – My Most Memorable Month!

This has been quite a year personally and professionally!  It has been filled with highs and lows, but I must say that August of 2019 has been an incredibly memorable month!

#missyoumom
The month started over the last weekend of July, when we returned home for a Celebration of Life for my mother Rose Ann Breitbach who passed away in the Spring after a long struggle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.  My mother worked as a nurse in my hometown of Dubuque, Iowa and she touched so many lives.  The outpouring of support from family and friends who shared the event with us was a testament to mom’s impact on others.  Her spirit will live on in our lives as we continue to show her love, faith, humor and intellectual curiosity in our lives!

CAE Commission
During the Summer, I was nominated for a unique opportunity to serve as the Public Member of the CAE Commission of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).  “The Certified Association Executive (CAE) credential is the marker of a committed association professional who has demonstrated the wide range of knowledge essential to manage an association in today’s challenging environment.” (https://www.asaecenter.org/) Our first CAE Commission meeting took place at the ASAE Annual Conference in Columbus, Ohio on August 10-13, 2019.  I was amazed by how I was welcomed in by an amazing group of association leaders and I look forward to helping the Commission work to serve its members and their communities!

Promotion to Full Professor
During the month, my promotion to Full Professor at Saint Louis University became official.  Academics has been my “second career” after working 22 years clinically as an athletic trainer. I am humbled to have this honor and I owe a debt of gratitude to many mentors, peers and all the students who have made this possible over the past 12 years as a faculty member at SLU.

Nexus Summit
The Nexus Summit is an Annual Conference hosted by the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  This year’s Nexus Summit was held over August 18-20th and it was dedicated to “recognizing a shared goal of improving learning and performance in practice, Nexus Summit 2019 (provided) the venue and framework, utilizing principles of design thinking, to tackle wicked problems while seizing new opportunities.” (https://summit2019.nexusipe.org/)

I was invited to participate as a keynote speaker in the Opening Plenary: “The World Conversation Café - From Conversation Café to World Café: Moving from Ideas to Action” with colleagues Patricia A. Cuff, MS, MPH, Joseph Zorek, PharmD, BCGP, Morgan Passiment, MS and Peter H. Vlasses, PharmD, DSc (Hon.), FCCP. (https://summit2019.nexusipe.org/schedule-events/plenary-world-conversation-cafe-conversation-cafe-world-cafe-moving-ideas-action)

It was an incredible experience to conduct an interactive session where attendees learned more about three landmark reports from the Health Professions Accreditors Collaborative (HPAC), the National Collaborative for Improving the Clinical Learning Environment (NCICLE) and the National Academy of Medicine Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professions Education and were given the opportunity to react to their recommendations!

AIHC Advisory Board
At the Nexus Summit 2019, we also had the first face-to-face meeting of the Advisory Board of the American Interprofessional Health Collaborative (AIHC).  I was invited to serve on the AIHC Advisory Board over the summer and continue to serve as a Co-Chair of the AIHC Program Committee.  It is a great opportunity to serve with such great colleagues who are dedicated to interprofessional education and collaborative practice to improve health and the healthcare system. (https://aihc-us.org/)

SLU Convocation
Each academic year at SLU kicks off with University Convocation at Chaifetz Arena.  This year, I was honored to be invited to take part in Convocation by making a declaration of what SLU’s mission means to me as a faculty member.  My statement: “As health professionals learning together in the Jesuit tradition; we share a higher purpose of person-centered care, clinical excellence and interprofessional collaboration to enable a greater good of health, wellness and social justice for individuals, communities and society”. Go Billikens!

MissingLogic Podcast
I have had the opportunity to work over the past few years with my colleagues Tracy Christopherson and Michelle Troseth from MissingLogicLLC  and learn about Polarity ThinkingTM in healthcare.  On August 28th I was invited to join them on their podcast to discuss emerging trends in interprofessional education and collaborative practice.  Michelle and Tracy are high-energy health professionals that are committed to system improvement for individuals and society through a new and innovative “Polarity Lens”. (https://www.missinglogic.com/)  The podcast is due for release in October.

Looking back at this past month, I am so grateful for the people and the opportunities in my life.
There are even better moments and achievements ahead! 

A Busy and Fun "Hat Dance" in Minneapolis

2018 Nexus Summit - National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education, Minneapolis, Minnesota
By: Anthony Breitbach PhD, ATC

Each summer, the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education holds it “Nexus Summit” in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  This year’s event was a busy one for me because I wear several “hats” in professional service and interprofessional scholarship.

I serve as the Chair of the Interprofessional Subcommittee of the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions (ASAHP).  We hosted the first ever ASAHP Summit on Healthcare Workforce Readiness for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice as a pre-conference session on Saturday, July 28, 2018 at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis.

The focus of the ASAHP Summit was “Sustainable Collaborative Health Care through Education-Practice Partnerships” and was facilitated by Michelle Troseth and Tracy Christopherson from Missing Logic LLC.  They led participants through a highly engaging session examining the polarities between Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice.  We look to provide outputs from the event including a proceedings report, as well as a peer-reviewed presentation and paper.

I also serve on the Program Committee for the American Interprofessional Health Collaborative (AIHC).  Wearing my AIHC “hat” I participated in session on interprofessional scholarship entitled “Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice: Continuing our Collective Conversation” with my colleagues from the Program Committee.  Additionally, I served as a reviewer for student poster presentations and a mentor for a student participating in the Nexus Summit.

Dr. Keri Hager from the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy in Duluth and I also collaborated on two “Conversation Café’s” entitled “What’s Next? Identifying Challenging IPE Issues to Drive Future Priorities” using the World Café method.  This collaboration was fun and it engaged persons from many sectors examining future priorities for AIHC and the National Center.  Dr. Hager also used this event as an opportunity to demonstrate her skills on the ukulele.

Last, but not least, I wore my “hat” as a faculty member at Saint Louis University engaged in the scholarship of Interprofessional Education.  I presented a poster with Katie Sniffen MS, ATC entitled “Utilizing Case-based Learning to Enhance Interprofessional Role Clarity for Athletic Training and Physical Therapy Students” about our interprofessional Therapeutic Modalities course.

I also presented a poster on my research with Scott Reeves and Simon Fletcher.  This poster presentation “Health Care as a Team Sport? Studying Athletics through a World Cafe to Improve Interprofessional Collaboration” was bittersweet since Scott’s passing in May.  He is missed by the entire interprofessional scholarly community as we work hard to carry on his legacy of excellence.

Overall, the Nexus Summit was a busy and fun “Hat Dance” that helped me engage and grow as an interprofessional scholar.