Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of an Interprofessional Substance Use Disorder Symposium

Description: This seminar will highlight the pedagogical development, implementation, and evaluation of an interprofessional substance use disorder (SUD) symposium for nurse practitioner, pharmacy, and physician assistant studies students. The intent of the SUD symposium was to prioritize self-discovery of stigma and its impact on how we care for persons with SUDs. The pedagogical approach for the SUD symposium was to emphasize collaborative practice with the aim of increasing appreciation of the interprofessional aspects of SUD patient care. The half-day symposium included a panel of community members with personal or professional experience with SUDs telling their relevant stories, interprofessional role playing of motivational interviewing, and a discussion of trauma-informed care principles relevant to stigma and bias. We addressed stigma, care coordination, and harm reduction strategies which are essential to improving patient care and critical to combating the overdose crisis. We also utilized storytelling to enhance students' capacity for challenging assumptions, considering multiple perspectives, improving ethical and moral judgement, and developing self-empowerment.

Summit Theme: This seminar will focus on how innovative interprofessional pedagogy can mimic professional clinical environments to prepare students for the complex challenges they will face as they develop professionally. Additionally, pedagogical practices informed by first-hand accounts of persons with lived experiences and content that addresses stigma and biases are imperative to the development of a vibrant interprofessional workforce that is prepared to support the healing of patients with SUDs.

Learning Objectives: After this session, learners will be able to (1) Describe ways to engage community members in interprofessional educational activities, (2) Identify pedagogical methods to increase empathy and awareness of biases to enhance student future clinical care environments, and (3) Analyze how this educational activity may be incorporated into the learner’s institution.

Actionable Skills / Practical Knowledge: In this session, we will share practical knowledge about, as well as lessons learned from, engaging with community members to co-create interprofessional content, implementing a variety of teaching strategies, and developing evaluation metrics. Active learning strategies: In this session, we will use reflective exercises to explore future applications of knowledge, simulate experiences of students using QR codes/Qualtrics, and engage with session participants using polling questions.

Summit Priority: For our symposium, we engaged persons with personal and professional lived experiences with SUDs to help develop the structure and content of the SUD symposium. Students had the opportunity to utilize storytelling throughout the symposium to focus on concepts grounded in the social sciences (i.e., stigma, biases, self-empowerment) to expand their awareness of the essential skills required in creating open and safe clinical environments for persons with SUDs.