Challenges, Transitions and Celebrations

Over the past year, our world has been enduring shared trauma in the COVID-19 pandemic.  We have responded to that challenge, but at the same time experienced our own trials and achievements. 

As full-time faculty at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC) and Saint Louis University (SLU), respectively, we adapted like all our colleagues. We transitioned to remote teaching and work, maintained productivity in service and scholarship in new and creative ways and tried to be present for our friends and families. 

However, we are growing from this experience, and through that growth we are gaining a better understanding of ourselves and what is possible moving forward.  Tony transitioned to Interim Chair of Nutrition and Dietetics at SLU and Katie was promoted to Associate Professor at OUHSC.

We have also been provided great new opportunities.  In Spring of 2021, we were both named to the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) Core Competencies Revision Working Group representing the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions (ASAHP).  We are thrilled to be a part of this essential and impactful work!

We stayed engaged in our consulting work through BE-Collaborative.  We both had the opportunity to work with colleagues at the University of Cincinnati in May to facilitate a workshop: “Developing and Facilitating Interprofessional Education in Field/Clinical Environments” with preceptors and other faculty.  Tony also presented to faculty and other stakeholders at Winona State University in April on a similar topic.

Tony was named a Distinguished Fellow in the National Academies of Practice and Inaugural Chair of NAP’s new Athletic Training Academy; and Katie was recognized as OUHSC’s “Interprofessional Education Leader of the Year”.

For the second time, Katie was a guest on the Healthcare's MissingLogic Podcast with hosts Michelle Troseth and Tracy Christopherson discussing "Healthy Eating and Balancing Physical and Mental Well-Being",  Link to the podcast: https://www.missinglogic.com/new-podcast/2021/8/24/episode-111-healthy-eating-and-balancing-physical-and-mental-well-being-with-dr-katie-eliot

We also stayed productive our scholarly writing, with several papers published over the past year:

• Kathrin A. Eliot, Amy M. L'Horset, Karen Gibson, and Stephanie Petrosky. "Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice in Nutrition and Dietetics 2020: An Update." Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. 121, no. 4 (Apr 2021): 637-46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2020.08.010.
• Gert Ulrich and Anthony P. Breitbach. "Interprofessional Collaboration among Sport Science and Sports Medicine Professionals: An International Cross-Sectional Survey." Journal of Interprofessional Care (Mar 8 2021): 1-11. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13561820.2021.1874318
• Anthony P. Breitbach and Jody S. Frost. "Athletic Training: The Journey to Becoming the Newest Nap Academy." Journal of Interprofessional Education and Practice 22 (2021/03/01/ 2021): 100414. http://dx.doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xjep.2021.100414.
• Jaclyn Schwieterman, Jordan Utley, Anthony P. Breitbach, and Heidi Crocker. "Clinical Preceptors' Self-Assessed Beliefs, Behaviors, and Attitudes for  Interprofessional Education after an Online Professional Development Module." Health, Interprofessional Practice and Education 4, no. 2 (2021). http://dx.doi.org/10.7710/2641-1148.2163
• Tina Patel Gunaldo, Kelly Lockeman, Karen Pardue, Anthony P. Breitbach, Kathrin A. Eliot, Amanda Goumas, Ginge Kettenbach, Sharon Lanning, and Bernice Mills. "An Exploratory, Cross-Sectional and Multi-Institutional Study Using Three Instruments to Examine Student Perceptions of Interprofessional Education." Journal of Interprofessional Care  (2021): 1-8. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13561820.2021.1892614
• Sharon K. Lanning, Karen Pardue, Kathrin A. Eliot, Amanda Goumas, Ginge Kettenbach, Bernice Mills, Kelly Lockeman, Anthony P. Breitbach, and Tina Patel Gunaldo. "Early-Learners' Expectations of and Experience with IPE: A Multi-Institutional Qualitative Study." Nurse Education Today  (2021/09/11/ 2021): 105142. http://dx.doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2021.105142.
• Hossein Khalili, Anthony P. Breitbach, Gail Jensen, Sharla King, Barbara Maxwell, Devin Nickol, Andrea Pfeifle, and John Gilbert. "Global Leadership in IPECP Research; an Intro to Co-Creation of Best Practice Guidelines." Journal of Interprofessional Education and Practice  (2021/06/16/ 2021): 100445. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.xjep.2021.100445
• Kemba Ceronne Noel-London, Crystal Grimsley, Trey Porter, and Anthony P. Breitbach. ""The Tip of the Iceberg": Commentary on Sports, Health Inequity, and Trauma Exacerbated by Covid-19." Journal of Athletic Training. 56, no. 1 (Dec 8 2020): 5-10. http://dx.doi.org/10.4085/1062-6050-0350.20
• Anthony P. Breitbach, David Pole, Shelly Rauvola, Ginge Kettenbach, and Leslie Hinyard. "Longitudinal Assessment of Students' Perceived Collaboration Skills at an Institution with a Structured Interprofessional Education Curriculum." Journal of Allied Health. 49, no. 4 (Winter 2020): 235-45. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33259567

Even though this has been a challenging year, we are so grateful for our colleagues, families and friends who have enabled us to keep collaborating in the face of these trying times!

We look forward the future with optimism and a greater appreciation of the power of shared connections.

Katie Eliot and Anthony Breitbach

Serendipitously Looking Through a New "Lens" with Polarity Thinking

Once in a while in your professional life, the stars seem to align and the universe introduces you to a dynamic colleague who you hit it off with right away. But what is truly amazing is meeting a dynamic duo…an interprofessional duo at that… who you have an instant connection with that leads to great things. At BE Collaborative, we were fortunate to have this experience ourselves recently and want to share about the incredible partnership between BE Collaborative and Missing Logic.

Michelle Troseth and Tracy Christopherson are the geniuses behind the consulting firm called Missing Logic. Together, they work to bring balance and resilience into the lives of healthcare professionals. Through workshops, retreats and podcasts, their energy and passion for helping others is obvious in everything they do.

I was fortunate to meet Michelle and Tracy through the Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professions Education when they presented a session on Polarity Thinking several years ago. Since then, we’ve stayed in touch and in the same IPE circles which has kept our friendship and working relationship going strong. Then, this past spring, they invited us to be guests on their “Healthcare’s Missing Logic” podcast.

Tony talked about the alignment of interprofessional education with collaborative practice and I talked about stress and burnout in the nutrition and dietetics profession. Admittedly, this was my first podcast so I wasn’t totally sure what to expect. I should have known, though, that this would be an incredibly fun hour together. It felt like talking to old friends about one of my favorite topics. When the podcast came out, they made me sound so good, I made all my family listen to it and sent it to as many people as I could think of! It’s this enthusiasm and genuine caring that make these women two of my favorite IPE rock stars out there.

I love to listen to their weekly updates and how they incorporate current events with a broad variety of guests on their show. If you haven’t listened to them yet, you are missing out!

Listen to "Episode #15 What Nobody Tells You About Aligning Interprofessional Education and Practice" featuring Dr. Tony Breitbach:

https://www.missinglogic.com/new-podcast/2020/4/30/episode-15

Listen to "Episode #36 Burnout Through the Eyes of a Dietitian Nutritionist" featuring Dr. Katie Eliot:

https://www.missinglogic.com/new-podcast/2020/4/29/episode-36

Learn more about Missing Logic: https://www.missinglogic.com/

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!