"Chemotherapy is a high-volume, high-risk clinical intervention that involves the care of an interprofessional team. Interprofessional education (IPE) is a crucial ingredient to improved quality and safety of healthcare services. Despite the established benefits of IPE, clinicians routinely train in silos, particularly outside of academic health centers. The glaring absence of IPE among experienced clinicians is astounding; more so in the context of chemotherapy safety where the stakes are so high. Novel pedagogies are needed to assure experienced clinicians receive ongoing evidence-based training. The Institute of Medicine and others have endorsed interprofessional education to improve knowledge and skills surrounding high-risk care delivery, such as chemotherapy. We are not aware of any training programs that include different professions and use virtual training methods to improve the safety of chemotherapy administration. Our preliminary data suggest that knowledge on these topics is suboptimal and ongoing interprofessional training is scarce. We propose a novel project that develops, refines, and evaluates a training program for high-risk chemotherapy scenarios, targeted to practicing nurses and pharmacists. Three specific aims are proposed: 1) Develop and deliver an interprofessional chemotherapy safety curriculum; 2) Evaluate the effectiveness of an interprofessional chemotherapy safety curriculum on learner and health outcomes, and; 3) Develop and evaluate supplemental digital resources to reinforce chemotherapy safety knowledge and skills. Our interdisciplinary team of experts will develop, deliver, and evaluate content for a one-day, in-person workshop at the brand-new University of Michigan School of Nursing. Topics will include safe handling of hazardous drugs like chemotherapy, management of oncology emergencies, extravasations, and patients receiving oral chemotherapy, and clinical practice change. A combination of lectures, case studies, and simulation techniques will be used. After the workshop, participants will be able to view content on-demand and complete additional training to retain key concepts. Over five years, we will offer seven workshops with up for 60 nurse and pharmacist participants (total n= 420). We will use Kirkpatrick's framework to evaluate the effects of the training on usability, acceptability, knowledge, perceived practice change, and perceived benefits. We combine didactic and practical training in an engaging, on-demand application to improve knowledge and skill and facilitate practice change. A more informed oncology workforce will likely reduce the burden of adverse chemotherapy events on patients and providers. " |