Interprofessional Team-Based Learning Module: Dementia, Depression, and Delirium

Abstract

Abstract This team-based learning activity is intended to be completed as an interprofessional educational exercise with medicine residents, pharmacy residents, and psychology graduate students. The content of the module focuses on delirium, dementia, and depression in geriatric patients. During the session, learners will complete an eight-item test based on the suggested readings, first individually and then as a team (readiness assurance process). Team members will then work together on case-based application assignments that require learners to actively engage with their interprofessional team members in order to complete the case (group application exercises). This session was completed with a cohort of approximately 60 internal medicine residents, pharmacy residents, and psychology graduate students. We found that internal residents had a strong propensity to focus on laboratory data from the case and to initiate treatment plans before considering whether further evaluation was needed. Interacting with their psychology colleagues was instrumental in reconsidering this approach. Additionally, both pharmacy and internal medicine learners benefited significantly from discussing the role of cognitive behavioral therapy in the nonpharmacological treatment of depression, even in the setting of dementia. All learners benefited from the module's focus on the concept of prioritizing a treatment plan related to multiple competing diagnoses.

Keywords

• Dementia
• Depression
• Geriatrics
• Delirium
• Cognitive Disorders
• Team Based Learning (TBL)