Research

Improving ICU Teamwork
Jeremy M. Kahn, MD MS

Intensive care units depend on highly specialized inter professional care teams. In this project, Center researchers are providing new insight into the structure and function of these teams in order to improve ICU communication and collaboration, and ultimately improve patient outcomes.   Read more

Innovative teaching efforts win funding

TWICE - Teaching Workplace Interprofessional Communication Effectively - innovative strategies to improve communication in the workplace - is a new project selected for funding by the Provost's office to develop instructional resources to facilitate the development of interprofessional communiation skills.  Read more

Accelerating Interprofessional Community-Based Education and Practice

The University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing was one of 16 recepients of the National Center's Accelerating Interprofessional Community-Based Education and Practice grants, which seeks to accelerate the development of creative, robust, and sustainable interprofessional activites in a community-based clinical setting.  Read more

Opioids Use and Misuse Curriculum

The University of Pittsburgh's Working Group on Interprofessional Education has assembled a wide-array of publically and/or university accessible resources to guide and inform curriculum planning and development related to the opioid epidemic.   Read more

Specialized Respiratory Care in Primary Care Practices

The Respiratory Care Enhancement Program supplements the primary care setting's capacity to care for patients with respiratory illnesses through the integration of a Physician Assistant who provides specialized care to those with asthma or COPD diagnoses.  The goals are to reduce inappropriate utilization, improve patient self-mangaement, and increase patient empowerment.  Read more

Interprofessional Practice in the UPMC Falk Trauma Clinic

This study explores the barriers and facilitators to the implementation of a non-physician led health care team in an academic teaching facility. It also considers if the addition of rehabilitation and nutrition professionals to an Advanced Practice Provider (APP) team improves satisfaction, decrease cost and improve quality in post-discharge trauma patients. Read more

Comparing Advanced Practice Providers and Physicians as Providers of eVisits
Johanna Bellon, MS, CFA

This study compares providers of eVisits within UPMC's AnywhereCare program by service and provider type for patient characteristics, volume, response time, primary diagnoses, and number of prescriptions. Read more

Hospitalist Care: Solidifying the Role of Advanced Practice Providers (APP) on Interprofessional Hospitalist Teams to Improve Cost, Quality and Outcomes

This study builds on the work of UPMC ERMI to quantify cost and quality difference between APP hospitalist teams and usual care teams. Read more

Community Connector Undergraduate Program

This educational curriculum was designed to prepare students in the health sciences with the skills necessary to provide and facilitate comprehensive and team-based care across the continuum.  The seminar focuses on the patient population at high-risk for frequent readmission to the hospital.  Read more

National Center on Interprofessional Practice and Education Incubator Site

As an incubator site for the National Center on Interprofessional Practice and Education, faculty and researchers at Pitt and UPMC have undertaken several interprofessional practice evaluation projects and are moving forward to "feedback" interprofessional practice into education. Read more

Managing Dental Emergencies through Collaborative Care

A program pairing nursing and dental students in an outpatient dental emergency clinic provides an opportunity for students to assess coordinated oral and systemic health needs. Read more

Interprofessional Modeling and Caring for the Elderly (IP-MACY): Educating a health care workforce to meet the needs of a changing health care system
Steven L. Kanter, MD
and
Susan Meyer, PhD

At the University of Pittsburgh, students in the Schools of Pharmacy, Nursing and Medicine are brought together to learn how to care for the elderly through a combination of classroom and clinical experiences. Read more

Learning and Teaching Together to Advance Evidence-Based Clinical Education

The project’s goal is to enhance students’ clinical learning experiences in the Schools of Dental Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy by providing pedagogical training to clinical faculty. The initiative comprises a faculty seminar, a workshop, a three-day training session, and an 11 session course on clinical teaching skills. Read more

Behavioral Health Specialists' Readiness for Integrated/Collaborative Care in Pennsylvania: A Practitioner Survey

The identification, evaluation, and care of children/adolescents with developmental, behavioral, and emotional problems is becoming an integral part of their general or primary healthcare. This survey is the first step in trying to understand the professional relationships among pediatric, family medicine, and other healthcare providers serving this population and their involvement in delivery collaborative or integrated behavioral healthcare. Read more

Advancing the Practice of Nursing to Address Rural Healthcare Needs

Within a 7-county area of northern Pennsylvania, researchers conducted an assessment of educational preparedness of nurses, in order to identify barriers to increasing the number of advanced undergraduate and graduate degree nurses within these rural communities.  Read more

Examining Palliative Care in Nursing Homes
Nicholas Castle, PhD

The potential benefits of palliative care in nursing home settings have received little attention from researchers and policymakers. In this study, researchers are examining the potential cost savings and quality implications of palliative care in nursing homes. Read more

Value-Based Care: Contributions of Health Care Professionals with a Focus on Nursing

This project explores models for value-based purchasing (VBP) being used nationally and nurse knowledge and attitudes about VBP at Excela Health. Read more

Evidence-based Healthcare: Interprofessional, Learner-Focused Small Groups in Large Lecture Courses in Dentistry and Pharmacy

Resolving complex patient health issues requires collaboration between health experts. University of Pittsburgh faculty created a unique knowledge-sharing opportunity between pharmacy and dental medicine students, redesigning two courses - Evidence-based Dentistry and Pharmacotherapy of Cardiovascular Disease - to incorporate three Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) sessions. Read more

Making the Case for Uniformity in Professional State Licensure Requirements
Ellen Cohn PhD, CCC-SLP, ASHA-F

University of Pittsburgh faculty lead the License Portability Sub-Committee within the American Telemedicine Association Special Interest Group (SIG) on Telerehabilitation to identify opportunities and develop guidelines to nurture uniformity in professional state licensure requirements. Read more

Policy Initiatives for Improving Access to Oral Health Care in Pennsylvania

This study analyses Medicaid claims data to identify options to improve access to dental health in rural communities. Interventions could include increasing the supply of dentists, improving the geographic distribution of dentists, expanding the scope of existing disciplines, or introducing new practice models. Read more

The Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) in the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH)

Research at Pitt compares the CNL’s capabilities with the care coordination requirements for the PCMH and will then make recommendations about the potential role of the CNL in the PCMH model. Read more