The LINC organizational model is designed to facilitate strategic alignment of key stakeholders who, through interprofessional collaboration, are positioned to bring innovative interprofessional education (IPE) ideas to life. In other words, LINC is an incubator that seeks to cultivate IPE knowledge and skills of faculty, staff and students and increase opportunities for student IPE experiences. While many creative ideas to advance IPE at UT Health San Antonio have emerged through LINC, a handful have been selected to move beyond concept into development and implementation. The list below represents LINC programs and projects that we count as early successes.

LINC IPE Symposium

Continuing to bring award-winning interprofessional education (IPE) opportunities to UT Health San Antonio faculty, staff and students, LINC is hosting its second annual LINC IPE Symposium on February 23 and 24.

The 2023 LINC IPE Symposium, organized by the LINC Student Council, will take place in person on campus and through virtual live events, as well as asynchronous programming via Canvas. This year’s theme, “Better Together,” will be explored through student- and faculty-led IPE activities, including panel discussions, workshops, networking events, presentations of scholarly work and a keynote address.

Amy Blue, PhD, associate vice president for Interprofessional Education at University of Florida Health and current chair of the American Interprofessional Health Collaborative, will present her keynote address – Interprofessional Teamwork Improves Lives – at 5:30 p.m. on February 23 via Zoom.

The LINC Student Council will be leading a registration drive around campus the week of February 16, so please look for one of their tables. Participants can also register here.

Everyone who registers for the symposium will receive a free water bottle, tote bag or badge reel courtesy of the LINC Student Council.

LINC Interprofessional Case Competition

Every spring semester, the LINC Faculty Council’s Co-Curricular IPE Initiative leads a voluntary interprofessional case competition for students at UT Health San Antonio. UT Health San Antonio’s inaugural competition was offered in Spring 2021 for interprofessional teams of highly motivated first-year students to apply IPE knowledge and skills gained through the LINC Common IPE Experience to develop an innovative population health-focused interprofessional intervention to reduce vaccine hesitancy in south central Texas. The 2022 competition focused on health inequities and/or disparities within a single zip code in Bexar County. Teams were tasked to develop a written proposal that summarizes their research and describe a creative, impactful, and interprofessional intervention in a population of choice.​

This year, the case competition is taking on a new look. For the 2023 Interprofessional FLASH! Case Competition teams of 3-4 students from at least 3 different education programs representing a minimum of 2 schools at UT Health San Antonio will identify a vexing healthcare problem in Texas, solve it interprofessionally and record and submit a 5-minute presentation to be scored by a faculty panel of judges. Teams will be invited to a live awards presentation where the top 3 teams will receive prize money totaling $3000.

RSVP by February 24 to participate. First 100 students to register and compete will receive a portable speaker!

For questions, please contact Casey Redish at redish@uthscsa.edu.

LINC Writers’ Workshop

Launched in January 2022 as a pilot for past LINC seed grant awardees, the inaugural LINC Writers’ Workshop introduces participants to various publication opportunities for IPE projects; this includes commentaries, case reports, systematic reviews, scoping reviews, quality improvement articles and hypothesis-driven research. Consensus guidance and writing strategies will be shared with participants as a roadmap to transform completed IPE projects into peer-reviewed publications. The workshop leverages blended learning strategies, with asynchronous learning complimented by live instruction. Nationally recognized experts in IPE lead a collaborative writing workshop and IPE journal editors will provide guidance and advice during a moderated panel discussion. If they choose, participants who complete the workshop will be paired with a mentor to serve as a resource during the publication development, submission and peer review process.

Register here to participate in the Spring 2023 session.

February 1 – February 23 – 5 hours of curated independent study focused on IPE publication opportunities:
Commentaries Case Reports Quality Improvement Projects Scoping Review Systematic Reviews Hypothesis-Driven Research

February 24 – 45-minute discussion with IPE experts and journal editors:

• Anthony Breitbach, PhD, ATC, FASAHP, FNAP, Professor and Vice Dean, Doisy College of Health Sciences, Saint Louis University, Associate Editor, Journal of Interprofessional Care, & Member, LINC External Advisory Council
• Katie Eliot, PhD, RDN/LD, FAND, Associate Professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Allied Health, University of Oklahoma, & Editorial Board Member, Journal of Dietetics Education
• Tina Gunaldo, PhD, DPT, MHS, Director, Center for Interprofessional Education & Collaborative Practice, Louisiana State University Health New Orleans, Co-Editor in Chief, Health, Interprofessional Practice and Education, & Member, LINC External Advisory Council
• Devin Nickol, MD, FACP, Associate Dean for Interprofessional Education and Professor of Internal Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, & Co-Editor in Chief, Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice

LINC Seed Grant Program

Annually, the LINC Faculty Council invites applications from UT Health San Antonio faculty and staff requesting financial support for pilot projects designed to advance didactic IPE, clinical IPE and co-curricular IPE. Support ranging from $500 to $5000 is available through the program for projects demonstrating potential in terms of future scalability, sustainability, extramural support and integration into programs’ curricula. Pilot projects must involve stakeholders from at least two different UT Health San Antonio schools and be designed to develop competencies within learners that target the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) framework. In addition to advancing an innovative IPE activity, funded projects must formally investigate effectiveness through a robust assessment of hypotheses and desired outcomes. A well-defined plan to disseminate findings and use pilot data to seek extramural funding is expected. To date, $100,509 has been awarded for 22 projects involving 80 investigators and collaborators.

E-LOIs must be submitted to LINC on or before March 1, 2023 through the e-LOI submission form.

Applicants whose e-LOIs are approved will be invited to submit a full proposal by March 31, 2023. Detailed instructions regarding application submissions will be provided once the e-LOI is approved.

LINC Interprofessional Education Plans

LINC is an infrastructure-focused Quality Enhancement Plan intended to advance UT Health San Antonio’s Strategic Vision by enhancing our capacity for interprofessional education (IPE). Key measures of success include increasing student knowledge and skills related to IPE, demonstrating schools’ and programs’ adoption of IPE as a strategic priority through increased activities integrated into programs’ curricula, and increasing opportunities for student IPE experiences across the institution.

To integrate IPE into programs’ curricula, and with support from UT Health San Antonio’s Vice President for Academic, Faculty & Student Affairs (VP AFSA) and Deans Council, the LINC Academic Affairs Council spearheads the annual development, approval and study of 12 IPE Plans in accordance with national consensus guidelines from the Health Professions Accreditors Collaborative. IPE Plans include universal elements shared by all students at UT Health San Antonio, such as foundational learning experiences and student learning outcomes measures, as well as unique elements customized to meet targeted needs identified within specific schools/programs.

LINC Common IPE Experience

The LINC Common IPE Experience serves as a foundation upon which all other IPE activities at UT Health San Antonio, existing and planned, are built. As such, students matriculating into UT Health San Antonio programs in the fall semester of each year are included. Conceived and supported by the LINC Academic Affairs Council and housed within the LINC Faculty Council’s Didactic IPE Initiative, the purpose of this university-wide IPE activity is threefold: (1) introduce students to IPE at UT Health San Antonio using the IPEC framework; (2) facilitate interprofessional socialization; and, (3) prepare students for IPE activities they will experience as part of program-specific IPE plans. Students complete the LINC Common IPE Experience in interprofessional groups of 3-4. Interactivity is emphasized as student groups work through 5 hours of instruction that includes interprofessional socialization activities, mini-lectures, illustrated case studies, video case studies and interprofessional discussions rooted in problem-based learning. To date, over 2000 students have completed the LINC Common IPE Experience.

LINC Core IPE Measurement Plan

The LINC Core IPE Measurement Plan, developed by the LINC Assessment Council with support from the LINC Academic Affairs Council, provides the foundation for all IPE-focused student learning outcomes measurement at UT Health San Antonio. Our approach consists of four tools administered at three timepoints in a student’s academic career. In accordance with the Institute of Medicine’s Interprofessional Learning Continuum Model, these valid and reliable tools measure changes in students’ reactions, attitudes/perceptions, skills and behavior related to IPE and teamwork. Aggregate baseline data collected during academic year 2020-2021 will be published in January 2022.

LINC IPE Faculty & Staff Development Program

Annually in the fall and spring, the LINC Office invites UT Health San Antonio employees interested in learning about different types of IPE, including characteristics of success from the published literature and successful local IPE efforts, in order to contribute meaningfully to existing IPE activities or to develop new IPE activities, to participate in a series of workshops called the LINC IPE Faculty & Staff Development Program.

Thursday, February 23 – 12:00 to 1:00 pm – IPE 201 will provide examples of how to launch an didactic, co-curricular, or clinical IPE activity at UT Health San Antonio. Taught by leaders of LINC Faculty Council Initiatives, participants will derive lessons learned from university-wide IPE exemplars in each of these areas.