title: The development of professional identity and the formation of teams in the Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System's Center of Excellence in Primary Care Education Program (CoEPCE).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The United States Department of Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System (VACHS) is one of five Centers of Excellence in Primary Care Education (CoEPCE) pilot sites. The overall goal of the CoEPCE program, which is funded by the Office of Academic Affiliations, is to develop and implement innovative approaches for training future health care providers in postgraduate education programs to function effectively in teams to provide exceptional patient care. This longitudinal study employs theoretically grounded qualitative methods to understand the effect of a combined nursing and medical training model on professional identity and team development at the VACHS CoEPCE site.
  
  
  METHODS
  The authors used qualitative approaches to understand trainees' experiences, expectations, and impressions of the program. From September 2011 to August 2012, they conducted 28 interviews of 18 trainees (internal medicine [IM] residents and nurse practitioners [NPs]) and subjected data to three stages of open, iterative coding.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Major themes illuminate both the evolution of individual professional identity within both types of trainees and the dynamic process of group identity development. Results suggest that initially IM residents struggled to understand NPs' roles and responsibilities, whereas NP trainees doubted their ability to work alongside physicians. At the end of one academic year, these uncertainties disappeared, and what was originally artificial had transformed into an organic interprofessional team of health providers who shared a strong sense of understanding and trust.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides early evidence of successful interprofessional collaboration among NPs and IM residents in a primary care training program.
authors.affiliation: E.M. Meyer is assistant professor, School of Justice Studies and Sociology, Norwich University, Northfield, Vermont. At the time of this study, she was research coordinator, Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System Center of Excellence in Primary Care Education Program, West Haven, Connecticut, and research associate, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut. S. Zapatka is nurse practitioner codirector and core faculty member, Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System Center of Excellence in Primary Care Education Program, West Haven, Connecticut. She is also adjunct faculty member, Quinnipiac University School of Nursing, Hamden, Connecticut, and associate clinical professor, Fairfield University School of Nursing, Fairfield, Connecticut. R.S. Brienza is physician codirector, Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System Center of Excellence in Primary Care Education Program, West Haven, Connecticut. She is also assistant professor, Section of General Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, and assistant professor, Fairfield University School of Nursing, Fairfield, Connecticut.
authors.forename: Emily M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zapatka
authors.forename: Rebecca S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Brienza
mesh_terms: D003237:Connecticut; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate / Q000379:methods*; D004511:Education, Nursing, Graduate / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000193:education*; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D017145:Models, Educational; D009722:Nurse Practitioners / Q000193:education*; D010348:Patient Care Team; D011320:Primary Health Care; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012649:Self Concept; D012933:Social Identification; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs