For almost 20 years, Dr. Tina Brashers, the Center's Founder, worked to improve interprofessional education at UVA. One of the highlights of her substantial scholarship is the 3-year "Creating a Culture of Safety" program. Funded by HRSA (Grant D09HP26942, PI C. Kennedy) this innovative program integrated enhanced interprofessional teamwork and patient safety/quality improvement (PSQI) training for advanced-practice nursing students and medical residents.

The program was innovative in its vision, scope, and level of mentorship. DNP students, for example, were provided over 100 hours of interprofessional PSQI training over 3 years-- this in addition to their already-demanding academic requirements.

The dissemination of this program is also unique. In addition to scholarly publications and presentations by the grant team and participating students, Program Director Tina Brashers, MD and Program Manager Meg Norling, RN developed a comprehensive "how to" Resource Manual about the grant. The goal is to share program information (including a comprehensive 3-year Curriculum Overview) with other IPE colleagues. The "Creating a Culture of Safety" Resource Manual was published online to make it accessible to the widest audience possible. The Center hopes this site will help other academic and clinical institutions develop their own IP/PSQI programs.

To learn more about this unique IP/PSQI training program, read the 2019 article published in Nurse Education Today.