Patients, as consumers, are taking a more active role in choosing their healthcare provider and are using patient survey data more than ever in determining where they will seek care. One key metric that affects patient experience is wait time, and even more importantly, the communication behind the wait time. It is no surprise that wait time continues to be mentioned in our patient survey data.  

The difference between UT Health San Antonio and our competition is our care team, and our ability to effectively communicate. Patients expect communication to be delivered in a way they understand and in a way that makes them feel we are respectful of their time and feelings.

Our patient surveys, sent by Press Ganey, include four questions that are related to wait time: 

• How many minutes did you wait after your scheduled appointment time before you were called to an exam room?
• How many minutes did you wait in the exam room before you were seen by a provider?
• Please rate us on the degree to which you were informed about any delays.
• Please rate us on the wait time in clinic from arriving to leaving.

Using AIDET, a Studer Group communication framework that helps to decrease patient anxiety and can increase patient compliance and clinical outcomes, we are better able to provide the communication that will support our efforts in providing exceptional experiences, for every patient, every time!

All clinical employees are invited to participate in this year's Deck the Halls tree decorating contest! 

What: Holiday tree decorating contest (large or small personal trees)

When: December 1 through December 22, 2022

Where: All UT Health Physicians clinics (employees working from home encouraged to participate)

How: Send a direct Facebook message with a photo of your tree along with the title and department to @UTHealthSAPhysicians. Submitted photos will be added to a Facebook album for voting. Gather as many likes as you can by December 22 before midnight!

Décor must be small child friendly.

Don't forget to download and share the flyer with your colleagues! 

Dear Faculty & Staff:

Linking Interprofessional Networks for Collaboration (LINC), UT Health San Antonio’s award-winning Quality Enhancement Plan housed within the Office of the Vice President for Academic, Faculty & Student Affairs, invites applications from faculty and staff requesting financial support for pilot projects designed to advance interprofessional education (IPE). Projects demonstrating potential in terms of future scalability, sustainability, and extramural support are welcomed.

Traditionally, IPE has been defined as “students from two or more professions learning about, from and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes” (WHO, 2010). It has been recognized more recently that all individuals who impact health care delivery, from students to working professionals, benefit from interprofessional learning. Importantly, evidence is emerging that quality IPE has a positive impact on learners’ interprofessional collaborative practice competencies and clinical outcomes from improved professional practice (HPAC, 2019).

The fifth annual LINC Seed Grant Program seeks to accelerate novel IPE activities that can be embedded in formal curricula, both didactic and clinical, as well as those offered as voluntary experiences outside of formal curricula to augment students’ professional development (i.e., co-curricular IPE). Pilot projects must involve learners from at least two different UT Health San Antonio schools and be designed to develop targeted Interprofessional Education Collaborative competencies in the following areas (IPEC, 2016): 

• Interprofessional Teamwork and Team-Based Practice
• Values/Ethics for Interprofessional Practice
• Roles and Responsibilities for Collaborative Practice
• Interprofessional Communication Practices

In addition to advancing a novel IPE activity, funded projects will formally investigate effectiveness through a robust assessment of desired outcomes. A well-defined plan to disseminate findings or utilize findings to strengthen applications for extramural funding is expected. Prospective applicants are encouraged to work with LINC stakeholders to incorporate best practices in IPE assessment and evaluation into their proposals. Faculty and staff development opportunities designed to strengthen proposals are also available to prospective applicants (see below).

Who May Apply

All UT Health San Antonio faculty and staff are eligible to apply. Applications can also include faculty and staff from non-UT Health San Antonio institutions; however, all submissions must have a faculty member from UT Health San Antonio as the Principal Investigator (PI) or co-PI of the project. Submissions demonstrating interprofessional collaboration, as evidenced by two or more co-PIs from different schools, will be prioritized. Similarly, priority will be given to projects that meet established IPE needs and opportunities within schools/programs.

Funding

LINC Seed Grants up to $5,000 will be awarded. The total number of awards available each year is dependent upon university funding. Funds awarded will be placed into discretionary accounts to be used only for appropriate expenses to support each grantee’s IPE project.

Letter of Intent

An electronic Letter of Intent (e-LOI) must be submitted and approved prior to completion of a formal LINC Seed Grant proposal. The e-LOI should concisely address the questions below. Prospective applicants are encouraged to review the annually approved IPE Plan(s) within their school to identify needs and/or strategic priorities and to discuss proposed projects with their schools’ representative(s) to the LINC Academic Affairs Council prior to submission.

• What types of learners will be involved in the novel IPE activity?
• What will learners do to achieve IPEC competencies?
• What makes the project novel?
• How will you measure the project’s impact?
• How does the project address strategic priorities for IPE within two or more schools?

E-LOIs must be submitted to the LINC on or before January 26, 2023, through the e-LOI submission form. Applicants are strongly encouraged to participate in the e-LOI workshop on January 12, 2023 from 12:00-1:00pm. Applicants can RSVP here for the e-LOI workshop.Applicants whose e-LOIs are approved will be invited to submit a full proposal by March 27, 2023. Detailed instructions regarding application submissions will be provided once the e-LOI is approved.

LINC Faculty & Staff Development Program

Consisting of two one-hour workshops, the LINC Faculty & Staff Development Program is offered each fall to cultivate IPE knowledge and skills of new faculty and staff. The first workshop provides a broad overview of IPE, collaborative practice, and context to understand the importance of IPE. The second workshop introduces participants to four different types of IPE at UT Health San Antonio: didactic, simulation, co-curricular, and clinical IPE. Taught by members of the LINC Faculty Council and LINC Office, participants will derive lessons learned from university-wide IPE exemplars in each of these areas. Fall 2022 dates for the LINC Faculty & Staff Development Program are as follows:

Prospective applicants interested in attending the Fall 2022 LINC Faculty & Staff Development Program must RSVP by Monday, December 12 using the RSVP submission form.

Questions and Consultation

In additional to reaching out to members of the LINC Academic Affairs Council for guidance, those interested in the LINC Seed Grant Program are encouraged to contact their LINC Faculty Council representative to discuss the program and address any questions they may have:

Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences

Rekha Kar, PhD, Associate Professor/Clinical

Leader, LINC Faculty & Staff Development Initiative

Long School of Medicine

Temple A. Ratcliffe, MD, MS-HPEd, Associate Professor/Clinical

Leader, LINC Clinical IPE Initiative

School of Dentistry

Moshtagh R. Farokhi, DDS, MPH, Professor/Clinical

Leader, LINC Co-Curricular IPE Initiative

School of Health Professions

Meredith Quinene, DHSc, MPAS, PA-C, Associate Professor

Leader, LINC Didactic IPE Initiative

School of Nursing

Kathleen R. Stevens, RN, B.S., M.S., Ed.D., ANEF, FAAN
Berneice Castella Endowed Distinguished Professor in Aging Research

We are very much looking forward to working with you to advance IPE at UT Health San Antonio.

Sincerely,

Rekha Kar, PhD

Associate Professor/Clinical, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences

Leader, LINC Faculty and Staff Development Initiative

Joseph A. Zorek, PharmD, BCGP, FNAP

Director, Linking Interprofessional Networks for Collaboration (LINC)

Office of the Vice President for Academic, Faculty and Student Affairs &

Associate Professor, School of Nursing