Shelene Thomas, DPT, EdD, GCS, FNAP
Associate Professor
Augustana University
Shelene Thomas, PT, DPT, EdD, GCS, FNAP is an Associate Professor of Augustana University, the seventh hybrid DPT program in the EIM series, in their inaugural year. Dr. Thomas's research interests focus on IPE which has led to positions on National IPE Consortia (NIPEC), a mentor in the American Interprofessional Healthcare Collaborative (AIHC) and a Fellow in the National Academies of Practice. As a physical therapist, she continues her professional expertise through student engagement in education and practice related to geriatrics as an APTA Geriatric Certified Specialist. As an expert in healthcare education, she serves as a Team Lead for on-site review teams for the Commission of Accreditation of Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE).

Presenting at the Nexus Summit:

Poster Description: Background: Collaboration between pharmacists and physicians occurs in various practice settings including acute care. Interprofessional education involving both pharmacy and medical students is necessary to prepare to practice collaboratively on teams, understand each other’s roles and responsibilities, and communicate effectively to enhance patient care. Pharmacy and medical students working collaboratively in a virtual interprofessional simulation has not been extensively studied. Design: This is an IRB-approved, mixed methods study evaluating qualitative and…
In educational settings, health profession students are expected to learn from each other through interprofessional education (IPE) initiatives. In the practice environment of healthcare, developing professional students are expected to practice collaboratively with other providers to achieve common goals to solve a variety of problems.Preparing students to work in complex healthcare environments calls for educational innovations to prepare for a collaborative workforce. A cohort study used the Interprofessional Professional Assessment (IPA) tool to assess professional behaviors of third year…
Interprofessional Student Poster Description: Dispersion of care across various providers increases with chronic conditions like diabetes. Teamwork and collaboration between healthcare professionals are essential for improving patient care and outcomes. To educate future collaborative providers, newer models for teaching, such as virtual reality (VR) have been established and implemented as tools during the pre-licensure education phase. No research has assessed the effectiveness of this innovative technology to improve knowledge, attitudes and empathy toward the population with chronic…