The development and effectiveness of a web-based emergency management educational program for long-term care facility interprofessional practitioners

Long-term care facility (LTCF) interprofessional practitioners who care for residents at high risk of emergencies due to old age, frailty, and complex diseases must be able to manage such emergencies collaboratively. A shared mental model (SMM) enhances performance toward a common goal by allowing effective collaboration through promoting the sharing of knowledge and skills among interprofessional team members. Therefore, this study developed a web-based educational program for LTCF interprofessional practitioners based on an SMM. We followed a network-based instructional system design that consists of analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation for developing the program. A total of 54 participants completed the educational program in four LTCFs in South Korea. A significant improvement was identified in communication knowledge, communication confidence, role recognition, transactive memory system, and team effectiveness in the experimental group. The results show that the program improved the emergency management process and reliability among interprofessional practitioners, positively impacting interprofessional collaboration and ensuring the safety of patients during emergencies in LTCFs.