Transcript Slide 1

Family Medicine Residents, Optometry Students, and Faculty Members
Engaged in Health Professions Education and Collaborative Patient Care:
An Example of a Community-Based Interprofessional Initiative by a Member
Institution of the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO)
Linda Casser,
a
OD; Melissa
Vitek,
b
OD;
and Valerie Pendley,
c
MD
Results / Discussion
Background / Introduction
A total of twelve family medical residents have participated in approximately two weekly
sessions of patient care each since the initiation of the program.
The family medical residents have been so pleased with their experience during the
primary eye and vision care sessions that they requested an additional weekly session
with the optometrist who specializes in pediatric optometry. The residents indicate that
this additional session has added tremendous value to their clinical rotation.
The interprofessional education and collaboration also reaches beyond the clinical activity:
two optometrists have provided lecture presentations to the family medicine residents
during their regularly scheduled meetings at Chestnut Hill Hospital.
The lecture presentations have been well received, and plans to expand this element of
the collaboration are under active discussion. Anticipated lecture topics include:
Components of a comprehensive eye and vision examination
Ocular urgencies and emergencies
The differential diagnosis of a red eye
The mission of the Salus University Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) , a member
institution of the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO), is to provide
programs of excellence worldwide that prepare optometry students, optometry residents,
optometrists, and related providers to deliver exceptional patient care services that exceed
practice standards and positively impact patient quality of life. PCO’s programs are
offered in an interprofessional environment dedicated to teaching / learning effectiveness,
enhancing career development, inspiring and developing leadership, and fostering new
discoveries through research.
Pediatric eye and vision disorders
Conclusion
In 1997, the Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education (CAIPE) in
London defined IPE as occasions when students from two or more professions in health
and social care learn together during all or part of their professional training with the object
of cultivating practice for providing client- or patient-centered health care.
While the profession of optometry is very well established in the health care arena, efforts
and opportunities to share with other health care providers first-hand information and
experience about who we are and what we do are always well-placed.
On a direct level, this successful collaborative initiative has allowed practitioners from both
family practice medicine and the profession of optometry to gain further respect for each
profession’s contribution to the delivery of effective patient care.
Salus University and its component colleges and programs---the Pennsylvania College of
optometry, the Osborne College of Audiology, the College of Education and Rehabilitation,
the College of Health Sciences, and the Graduate Programs in Biomedicine---are
committed to creating models and promoting a culture of interprofessional education that
align with the University’s vision to be recognized nationally and internationally for
excellence and innovation.
On a larger scale, the collaboration represents a synergistic model of interprofessional
healthcare and education. This collaborative approach to patient care and clinical
education promises more effective healthcare delivery, ultimately leading to improved
patient outcomes.
The member institutions of the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry,
including students, residents, and faculty members, remain actively committed to effective
community-based health professions education, interprofessional education, and
collaborative patient care.
Chestnut Hill Hospital
The Eye Institute - Chestnut Hill
Methods
Beginning in October 2012, The Eye Institute at the Salus University Pennsylvania College
of Optometry and the Chestnut Hill Hospital Family Practice, both located in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, have collaborated in health professional education and collaborative patient
care by implementing an interprofessional model in which second year family medicine
residents participate in weekly sessions of active observation of comprehensive eye and
vision patient care at the community-based Chestnut Hill satellite facility of The Eye
Institute.
The family medicine residents have demonstrated a special interest in the triage of
patients with urgent eye conditions, the differential diagnosis of patients presenting with
red eye, ocular manifestations of systemic disease, clinical signs and management of
glaucoma, and ophthalmic evaluation of the pediatric patient.
The optometry students, family medicine residents, and faculty members have engaged in
discussions regarding the assessment and management of patients with hypertension,
uncontrolled diabetes, and other systemic conditions.
Poster Author Information
a
Professor , Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Salus University, Elkins Park,
Pennsylvania, USA, and Member Global Health Forum Participant for the Association of
Schools and Colleges of Optometry [email protected]
b Assistant
Professor and Director of Electives and Advanced Studies, Pennsylvania College
of Optometry at Salus University, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, USA mvitek@salus
c Assistant
Director of the Chestnut Hill Family Practice, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA