Student Evidence Informed Practice (EIP) Initiative

The Student Evidence Informed Practice (EIP) Initiative

Program Description

The Student Evidence Informed Practice (EIP) Initiative is a clinically-based education program aimed at fostering EIP competency development for health professional students in an inter-professional context, using self-directed and collaborative learning principles.

Objectives of the Initiative

To present a holistic view of the challenges, opportunities and professional responsibilities of an evidence-informed practitioner
To provide opportunities for interprofessional EIP competency development
To engage clinicians and students in research to enhance quality of care and to improve health and development of BC’s children and families
To increase students’ use of evidence in clinical decision-making by:

Facilitating EIP competency development in both students and clinicians through collaborative learning
Raising awareness of relevant EIP resources and quality sources of pre-appraised evidence
Offering opportunities for self-directed learning to target EIP attitude, knowledge and skill gaps
Encouraging the creation of knowledge products, practice change plans &/or evaluations that facilitate evidence use in practice

Learning Team Members & Roles

As learning partners, various members of the clinical education team can support students to meet their EIP learning needs during multi-week clinical fieldwork placements in a way that is consistent with the guidelines and policies of the student’s academic department. Proposed roles are as follows:

Students

Establish EIP learning objectives and a personal EIP learning plan for the clinical placement
Collaborate with the Fieldwork Educator on learning activities targeted toward their learning objectives
Contribute to EIP at the Centre through the generation of knowledge products, practice change planning, evaluation activities and/or knowledge translation activities congruent with their EIP learning objectives

Fieldwork Educators (Clinical Supervisors/Preceptors)

Support students in evaluating their own EIP competencies
Support students in establishing appropriate EIP learning objectives
Collaborate in shared learning activities to foster mutual EIP competency development

Student EIP Initiative Coordinator(s) – may be Department or Program-specific

Meets with clinician prior to placement start date to review the Initiative, resources and roles
Meets with clinician/student pair or student during first week of placement to support the incorporation of EIP competency development into learning objectives and learning activities
Coordinates the evaluation of the Initiative on an annual basis
Maintains the TeamSite bank of knowledge products and other learning activity outcomes generated through the Initiative
Liaises with UBC faculty about the Initiative, and to promote pediatric topics for research and syntheses, and to explore clinician-student-faculty research collaborations

Evidence Centre staff, including clinical librarian and education assistant

Support specific EIP competency development or processes as needed
Address access issues to obtain full-text evidence
Maintain EIP resources for students and clinicians
Interprofessional team members and colleagues
Foster interprofessional and EIP competency development opportunities for students

Proposed Learning Activities

EIP learning plans should address the student’s learning needs and target specific objective(s). At least one learning objective should specifically target an EIP competency in the context of clinical care. Students will not be steered toward writing and presenting on a CAP/CAT as in the past, although they may choose to do so. Flexibility in the nature of learning activities is encouraged to meet students’ learning priorities; however, knowledge translation to relevant groups or teams of clinicians within or outside Sunny Hill should be a component of the plan.