Dave Plough

Welcome to Collaborative Conversations. In this episode, we're going to take a look at facilitators. Here at IU IPE, we run a curriculum that involves a number of team-based learning experiences, and we're not able to do those without help from our partner institutions.

Barbara Maxwell
We are reliant on a heck of a lot of facilitators who step in from more than 20 different programs across the whole state of Indiana. And so when we're having the students really apply the concepts and the knowledge and skills that they've learned in their hybrid curriculum, come together and that are facilitated by people from their professions.

That facilitation, we know from the literature is incredibly important that those facilitators are well prepared, that they know how to facilitate learning in students, but more specifically that they know the subtleties and the nuances of interprofessional facilitation, which is quite different. It requires things like you leaving your professional hat on the door and facilitating for the interprofessional competencies.

So it's great today that we'll have Julie LaMothe joining us today and also Elli Kollbaum. Julie is from the IPE Center. She's our Center for Faculty Engagement and Enrichment. And she's also a faculty member in nursing at IU School of Nursing. And Elli Kollbaum is faculty from the School of Optometry on our Bloomington campus.

And today they're going to have a conversation about what it takes to be a really good facilitator from the experience of Julie, who's been a facilitator and also trains our facilitators, and Elli, who is a really seasoned facilitator in our curriculum here at IU.

Dave Plough
that, let's go ahead and listen to what Julie and Elli have to say.

Julie LaMothe
So Ellie, as a seasoned IPE facilitator, what are the factors that you find to be most helpful for IPE facilitation?

Elli Kollbaum
I think keeping some things at the top of our minds that what our competencies are, kind of our main objectives, and those are for students to learn teamwork, different aspects of teamwork, for them to learn communication skills, learn roles and responsibilities. I also really look to the IPE Center and some of their framework that they've had for us to get that training and that background. And for each session, I refresh a little on that and make sure that I'm focused because those background pieces of information are things that I'm going to try to make sure that we cover and that the students really do gain some headway for the competencies.

Julie LaMothe
Yeah, that's excellent. And the experts say that your experience and your knowledge of IPE really helps with the facilitation, but also the strategies that you use. And I'm glad to hear that you use the resources that the IPE Center has. We have a faculty development site that we work in. We also have training sessions, which you have attended to help prepare you for the teach sessions. So you've been very successful at this facilitation. How do you promote student engagement in these environments?

Elli Kollbaum
I try to make the students very comfortable with the situation. So I try to be extremely welcoming and make sure that they know who each other are, where they're coming from. So they have name tags, that's great. If they're doing this in an online environment, they try and make sure that they post their name and their profession. So we have at least a couple pieces of information. I also like to add a little bit of structure. So I'm keeping time as we're going along and I just tell them that I'm going to be the timekeeper. Then I probably will pop in at certain moments into their conversation saying, okay, we just have a couple minutes to wrap this so that we stick with that structure.

There's a great organization and structure that we're given as elements, but we have to implement that. And I think the students like that. They like having the structure and knowing that there's some guidance instead of it being too free form for some of their conversations and their team building.

Julie LaMothe
Yeah, I like the timekeeping piece. And I remember you saying that and I've used that. It also kind of keeps them, especially when you have a simulated actor there to keep them in line. I always wonder, know, okay, they're gonna, it looks like they're gonna go over. How do I tell the SP his session is over or her session is over? How do you do that?

Elli Kollbaum
Yeah, I usually say, okay, we have about a minute or two to wrap this up. And those are some of the cues for the whole room then between the students and the standardized patient so that they have some ideas that we're doing that. We also have sometimes when the students are kind of coming up with their strategy, how to work with that standardized patients. And sometimes the students are very free form and they've been in clinics and they know some of that evolves. But with this group that's new, having a little more structure I think is good and getting everyone kind of a piece where they're going to contribute. So sometimes I do steer them a little bit extra when they're saying, okay, we'll just see what they say. And then we'll build on that because that because that doesn't give a new group quite as much structure to help each other in the moment. And I just say, you know, maybe this will evolve, but just have a tentative plan in place.

Julie LaMothe
Yeah, that's good. Now you've done both online and you've done in -person sessions. Several. as legislators often say to me, in an online environment, how do I engage these students? I feel like I'm doing too much directing. What tips do you have for engagement, especially in that online environment.

Elli Kollbaum
It is a little bit less intuitive. There's not as much body language and maybe not just that physical connection of being in the same room. But I try to make sure there's a strong time of introductions that everybody's there and that we're ready to go. And I use this with both online and in person, but maybe it's a little more important in the online that I'll throw out a question and I'll say, okay, I want everyone to answer. And then take a couple moments to collect your thoughts because everyone's going to answer this question. And then I'm sure I get engagement from everyone. Or if there is someone that's lagging back on questions as we're kind of rolling through, I'll say, okay, this next question I'm going to throw out to X person first.

So they're ready for it before I say the question, and they know we're pulling them more into the conversation so we do get full engagement.

Julie LaMothe
Yeah, that's excellent. So we have different professions and disciplines of students in our groups. And we are told as an IPE facilitator that you are to hang up your professional hat when you're a facilitator so you can reach all the students. So do you have any ideas on how to pull in different disciplines that are working together?

Elli Kollbaum
Yeah, this last time that we were together, I really tried to focus on collective knowledge and the fact that sometimes they're going to pull things in from their personal side that are going to be helpful. So everybody has a little bit something to contribute and it doesn't necessarily have to be from your professional role. And I think sometimes that makes it a little easier. And then I do have a couple of examples that I thought were just brilliant. Sometimes I throw them out with the students so they can see that, you know, we were talking about exercise, you know, that wasn't necessarily in everyone's wheelhouse who was at the table, but one person was a pet lover and starting engaging the standardized patient about whether they liked pets because they didn't, we didn't find another road to getting them to do more exercise. And they said, yes, I love animals. And then they started talking about taking a dog for a walk and how that would be something that would decrease their isolation, it helps their mental health and get them doing some exercise.

And so a great example of something that did not have to do with any of the professional roles in the room, but was also important. Another one was a medication that we were talking about that had some off -label uses and someone had a background with horses and they had used that with horses and so they knew a little bit more about the background of that medication and brought that in. So it doesn't always have to be just from their professional role for the scenarios that we're talking about. Some of them really are just from their personal experiences and that connection to patients and to others is also going to play into it. So it kind of breaks down the professional barrier part of it if they're not necessarily feeling comfortable with

Julie LaMothe
Yeah, I love those examples and I love when they bring in personal and because then you know they're really thinking about it and they're beginning that reflection process. So you've talked a little bit about the feedback that you give and giving effective feedback is so important as an IPE facilitator and some of that is reflection questions. Do you have any other examples of how the types of feedback that you give and questioning?

Elli Kollbaum
Yeah, I like to take a lot of notes. So I always make sure I have some paper there. I might be writing in the margins of some other papers that I have, but I try to get some of the key phrases that they've said or moments where things have shifted because they opened up something. And so I try to get some of that down. So as we go through our reflection, if they don't mention it within their own comments about what went well and what challenges they had then I can kind of sprinkle those in and make sure that everyone knows that, you know, they have contributed and they were seen as part of the team.

So I think that's important. I also talked about how to draw in a couple people. Other things that I don't shy away from kind of adding in some questions that aren't on the list, because sometimes we have people in the room who it's not necessarily their wheelhouse or their professional role and kind of add at the end, you know, why don't we just talk a little bit about maybe what could have been added onto this scenario that would have drawn in your profession. And so we can pull in the ones that were less involved in the scenario that was presented. So that most of the time they are creative and they're glad to bring that in. Also, I will say, you know, you have other people in the room. We don't have this opportunity very often. What questions do you have for some of your colleagues here from other professions? And some of them will start asking you about what they do for their clinicals or what types of patients they work with. And so that just gives them a little more well -rounded view of what's going on with the session and just adds a nice extra layer for people who maybe felt like they weren't heard as much within this type of a scenario.

Julie LaMothe
Yeah. I like that. I've not heard that before. I do use your example of taking notes during the sessions. I found that to be really helpful, especially when you're coming towards the end, which is debriefing the students. We huddle first and then we usually debrief. Can you tell me about the strategies you use when you debrief?

Elli Kollbaum
Yeah. So after they're done with that active part, especially they have a standardized patient, we typically have a list of questions that are involved for that next part within the debrief. I'll usually kind of star a couple of those questions that I resonate with me and are likely easy ones for me to pull out there. But usually I'll start with what they think went well with their active part with the standardized patient and what things they found were challenges. And then just get them to reflect on their own part first and then maybe on other people's part, whether they saw something. And I usually see some nice compliments come out about the other people so that again strengthens some of their relationships during that part.

So those are probably a couple of the things that I like to do and then I add on a little bit at the end.

Julie LaMothe
How do you end the debriefing session?

Elli Kollbaum
Yeah, I'd usually say like, is the takeaway that you got from this session? And during the debrief, while I kind of back up here, I do try to point out moments of teamwork, how you help someone else out by adding on. And I try to make sure we can pull the emphasis into those competency realms that we're really trying to emphasize not so much about the patient and the exercise or nutrition part of it, whatever that scenario was, but more about how they handled themselves as a group and how they took on different roles and responsibilities. Sometimes we get various answers, but I do want them to pull some takeaways.

And I also will say what I'm impressed with at the end of that try to wrap that into how they work together and how they brought their best selves in in different ways so they can see that we appreciate the pieces that they had to draw from to prepare to be there and to make the session work well.

Julie LaMothe
I'm learning more every time I talk to you. It's just excellent examples. Would love to be a bee on the wall in your group. mean, that's just wonderful. And I think we both agree that in professional practice is so important once we get into practice and that it leads to better provider satisfaction, patient satisfaction, lowers cost, and just improves the overall health of the patient. And I know that you role model this. As we wrap up this conversation, can you tell us about how you role model to your students?

Elli Kollbaum
I feel like there's a couple different ways. When we have these sessions, we are there with our colleagues who are also facilitating and organizing the events and all of the logistics, also fellow facilitators. And so I feel like engaging when we're there also shows that we have that collegiality with our academic cohort, with our other colleagues. And then when we're in our professional role back at the School of Optometry, I'm a clinician dealing with people who have visual impairment. And some of those are from eye disease, some of them are for brain injury, but it really does take a network of folks to help with rehabilitation. And so the students are questioning the patients and we're emphasizing what else is going on with their therapies for patients who have had a brain injury and are already in a rehabilitation mode for that brain injury or stroke.

And then for some of the patients, are their point of entry into some rehabilitation. And so we are then opening up the doors and making sure we communicate out. So when we do our huddles before patient care, we're often looking at some documents or talking about phone calls that we've had prior to that patient coming in. So they're aware of our interactions with occupational therapy, social vocational rehabilitation counselors and other people that are out there that are all working together to help the patient. And other providers like neurologists and rehab specialists are also on those teams. So they need to know that these people that were utilizing that information and were communicating back so that the team, even if it's asynchronous and not in the same building, it's still the team effort is what improves that quality of care. And it makes it more interesting for me; it does.

Julie LaMothe
Yeah.

I love that those are great examples of collaborative care that we should all practice. And I love how you brought in all those different professions that the optometrist deals with, like with the patient and putting that patient as being the center of that care. So that's excellent. Is there anything else that we didn't talk about that you would like to share before we end this conversation?

Elli Kollbaum
I do enjoy the facilitation. There's some unknowns, so it is a little intimidating, I think, for the students and for us. I try to make it a welcoming environment. They've made it there. They're participating in a way that's going to be useful by having the different components there. And I enjoy it because I do see the creativity and I see the energy that the students have that kind of gives us what's going to happen in the future for healthcare. It's nice to see what we have for a future with them.

Julie LaMothe
And Elli, your enthusiasm and sense of humor and engagement really shows as an facilitator for IPE. And I think it takes that enthusiasm to keep the students engaged. So that is a big piece that I'm glad that you shared. Thank you for facilitating for the IPE Center and thank you for having this conversation with us. I think that your words and your tips will be very helpful for all of our listeners.

Elli Kollbaum
Great, thanks for having me. It was pleasure.


Dave Plough
All right, and that is it for Julie and Elli. First of all, thank you Julie for conducting this interview with Elli. And thank you Elli, it's always great to have someone who works in partnership with us to put together these events.

Barbara Maxwell
swear word, swear box. Maybe we should leave that in and say, we don't use the word event. This is a curriculum.

Dave Plough
Ha! I did it.

Dave Plough
…And thanks to Ellie. We could not do what we do in this curriculum without having people like her support us in these experiences.

Barbara Maxwell
Absolutely Dave and Ellie's just been a great champion for so many years in the curriculum so it's been great to hear her voice today.

Dave Plough
And if you want to hear more from people like Ellie or more about interprofessional practice and education, you can do so by visiting our website ipe .iu .edu. You can also follow us. We're all over the social medias, but we specifically focus on our LinkedIn

Barbara Maxwell
And if you've ideas for a podcast for what you would like to hear from topic that you'd like to have hear some conversation around and some debate around, then please feel free to email us at ipectr at iu .edu.

Dave Plough
All right, thank you and we will catch you next time on Collaborative Conversations.