Working together: Using a unique approach to evaluate an interactive and clinic-based longitudinal interprofessional education experience with 13 professions

Interprofessional education (IPE) involving an interactive and longitudinal clinic experience at an inner-city charitable clinic from September to May 2013/2014 was evaluated. Pre-, mid-, and post-intervention data were collected from students in 13 different professions including medicine (medical and physician assistant), dentistry (dental and dental hygiene), nursing (undergraduate and clinical nurse specialist), public health, pharmacy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, nutritional sciences, speech and language pathology, and social work. To evaluate their interprofessional attitudes, students completed the TeamSTEPPS Teamwork Attitudes Questionnaire (T-TAQ) and Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS). They also completed a unique measure, healthcare professionals circles diagrams (HPCDs), that indicated student conceptualisation of a healthcare team caring for a complex patient, along with perception of their team’s progress towards meeting patient goals. Results from the T-TAQ and RIPLS scores indicated small but significant increases from pre- to post-intervention (p = 0.005 and 0.012, respectively). Analysis of the HPCDs revealed significant increases in students’ perceptions of the types of interprofessional team members, relationships, and communication between professions to provide medical care to patients (p < 0.01). Most HPCDs included pharmacists, nurses, and physicians as part of the care team at all time points. Students significantly increased their inclusion of dentistry, public health, social work, and physician assistants as members of the healthcare team from pre- to post-intervention. Implications of our data indicated the importance of IPE interventions that include not only classroom-based sessions, but actual patient care experiences within interprofessional teams. It also reinforced the importance of new and unique methods to assess IPE.     

Implementing and evaluating a community-based,inter-institutional,interprofessional education pilot programme

Many health professions programmes have begun integrating interprofessional learning into their curricula; however, community-based interprofessional education (IPE) initiatives are relatively scarce. The Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance IPE Faculty Collaborative, comprised of faculty from five institutions, developed a community-based IPE programme that allowed students to engage in meaningful interprofessional activities while exposing them to social determinants of health. Thirty students from ten professions were divided into six teams and paired with three community organisations. Each team engaged community organisation staff and clients to develop practical solutions to their priorities. Teams participated in debriefings and team-building exercises to further support interprofessional learning. Students’ comfort working with others (CWO), value in working with others (VWO), and self-perceived ability (SPA) to work with others were assessed using the Interprofessional Socialisation and Valuing Scale (ISVS). Mean rank scores in all three subcategories increased significantly from baseline (CWO: z = ?4.11, p < 0.0001; VWO: z = ?3.41. p = 0.001; SPA: z = ?2.79, p = 0.005). In addition, programme evaluations suggest the programme improved students’ understanding of social determinants of health. Our findings align with those of two other community-based IPE initiatives and support the expansion of IPE efforts beyond traditional settings.     

Attitudes and perceptions from nursing and medical students towards the other profession in relation to wound care

Lack of nurse?physician collaboration in wound care may result in prolonged healing times for patients. In order to facilitate future professional collaboration, undergraduate learning activities in interprofessional education (IPE) have been proposed. The aim of this study was to investigate nursing and medical students’ attitudes and perceptions towards each other’s future professions and interprofessional collaboration in wound care. Nursing and medical students took part in an interprofessional learning activity about wound care. Data were collected using the Jefferson Scale of Attitudes towards Physician?Nurse Collaboration questionnaire to student groups before and after an IPE activity (pooled n = 221). Focus groups were conducted to deepen the knowledge about students’ attitudes and perceptions. The results showed high scores on the attitude scale (mean 53.2, possible maximum = 60) both before and after IPE, indicating positive attitudes towards nurse?physician collaboration. Nursing students scored higher than medical students both pre-IPE (p < 0.001) and post-IPE (p = 0.006). However, no difference on scale scores could be identified between pre- and post-IPE. The following themes emerged in the analysis of focus group discussions: “Approaching patient care from different perspectives,” “Need for collaboration and clear professional roles in practice,” “Structures hindering future collaboration,” and “IPE as a tool for professional practice and roles.” The shared learning activity provided insights into the other profession’s competence. This kind of learning activity may increase future interprofessional collaboration, and thus, improve wound care.     

An examination of students’ perceptions of their interprofessional placements in residential aged care

ABSTRACT

It is essential that health professionals are trained to provide optimal care for our ageing population. Key to this is a positive attitude to older adults along with the ability to work in teams and provide interprofessional care. There is limited evidence on the impact an interprofessional education (IPE) placement in a residential aged care facility (RACF) has on students. In 2015 in Western Australia, 51 students (30% male, median age 23 years), from seven professions, undertook a placement between 2 and 13 weeks in length at 1 RACF. Pre- and post-placement measurements of attitudes to the elderly were collected using the Ageing Semantic Differential (ASD) questionnaire and level of readiness for interprofessional learning with the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS). A total of 47 students completed matched ASD and RIPLS surveys. The mean total score on the ASD survey decreased significantly from pre- to post-placement from 116.0 to 108.9 (p = 0.033), indicating attitudes became increasingly positive towards older adults. Significant differences post-placement were seen indicating better readiness for interprofessional learning, for two out of four subscales on the RIPLS, namely “teamwork & collaboration” (42.1–44.0; (p = 0.000)) and “positive professional identity” (18.2–19.3 (p = 0.001)). The degree of change is similar to findings from other settings. The results support IPE-focussed student placements within RACF positively influence student’s attitudes towards the older adult as well as increase student’s readiness for interprofessional learning, confirming RACF are valuable places for training health professionals.     

Bridging understanding in nursing and radiography students: An interprofessional experience

Health professionals must improve interprofessional communication and collaboration to ensure quality patient care. Through socialization, simulation, and case‐based learning, improved collaboration among health professions is possible. Students from two programs, nursing and radiography, were involved in interprofessional activities, including case studies, simulation, and debriefing. The students completed a pre‐ and postsurvey to assess attitudes and knowledge of each profession. Data were analyzed in SPSS using paired t tests. Nursing and radiography students were assessed separately. A 4‐point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree) was used to quantify student selections. The nursing students showed increased confidence and knowledge in preparing patients, and deeper understanding of the role and knowledge base of the radiographer. While significant changes in student nurse attitudes and perceptions were noted, no significance was shown pre‐ to postsurvey in the radiography students’ attitudes and perceptions. This may be attributed to an increased level of clinical exposure and experience in the radiography students. The perceptions of the students during debriefing, as well as from the survey data, indicate a heightened awareness of the collaborative nature of health care. Student comments support interprofessional education (IPE) as a method to reach beyond a single professional boundary and increase communication and understanding among healthcare providers. Through this activity, attitudes changed and knowledge of health profession roles increased in novice nursing students. Health professions educators must embrace IPE to encourage interprofessional collaboration for patients navigating the complex healthcare system today and in the future.     

Exploring the nature of facilitating interprofessional learning: findings from an exploratory study

Abstract

With the growing complexity in managing multiple disease and illness-related problems, increased attention is being paid to the importance of interprofessional education (IPE) in preparing students for working collaboratively with different professionals. Educational activities for mixed groups of health professional students are increasing, and facilitation of learning in interprofessional student groups is now acknowledged as an essential part of successful interprofessional learning activities. However, little is known about the strategies used by facilitators with students from different professions, and how they promote learning. Using data obtained through an analysis of videos taken as part of a large study of IPE and interprofessional practice, this study aimed to identify the pedagogical strategies and behaviours of facilitators participating in seven different learning activities with health care students from five different professions. The data captured student reactions and behaviours and provided insight into the dynamics of the interprofessional encounters. The findings showed that facilitating groups involved a complex interchange of three types of interaction between facilitators and students: facilitator-controlled interaction, facilitator-driven interaction and student-driven interactions. The findings also suggest that faculty development programs should assist facilitators to re-examine teaching approaches and encourage students to assume the responsibility for discussing issues and collaborating with others in all their interprofessional contacts. Continuity and stability in faculty development activities will better prepare clinical educators and young professionals to become interprofessional champions.     

Faculty facilitators’ and standardized family members (SFMs) perceptions of student teamwork during an interprofessional education simulation workshop

ABSTRACT

Standardized patients can be trained to portray standardized family members (SFMs) for interprofessional education (IPE) initiatives to maximize student learning. To date, studies of IPE often focus on student learning outcomes rather than on the feedback and perspectives of SFMs and faculty facilitators (FFs), The purpose of our study was to examine SFMs’ and FFs’ perspectives immediately after participating in an IPE workshop. SFMs and FFs completed a semi-structured questionnaire consisting of open-ended questions to identify positive and challenging aspects of interactions with health professions students during an IPE workshop. A directed content analysis approach was used to assess written feedback (N = 29) from SFMs and FFs. Study findings highlight many similar themes between SFMs and FFs as well as minor differences regarding recognition of emotion and communication transitions. SFMs and FFs both agreed, however, that these are areas for further development by students to improve communication. Our study adds insight into SFMs’ and FFs’ feedback immediately after an IPE workshop.     

Student perceptions towards interprofessional education: Findings from a longitudinal study based in a Middle Eastern university

The Lebanese American University Interprofessional Education (LAU IPE) Steps Framework consists of a five-step workshop-based series that is offered throughout the curriculum of health and social care students at an American university in Lebanon. The aim of the present study was to report students’ perceptions of their readiness for interprofessional learning before and after completing the IPE steps, their evaluations of interprofessional learning outcomes, as well as their satisfaction with the learning experience as a whole. A longitudinal survey design was used: questionnaires were completed by students before IPE exposure and after each step. The results showed that before IPE exposure, students’ perceptions of their readiness for interprofessional learning were generally favourable, with differences across genders (stronger professional identity in females compared to males) and across professions (higher teamwork and collaboration in pharmacy and nutrition students compared to other professions and lower patient centredness in nursing students compared to others). After participation in the IPE steps, students showed enhanced readiness for interprofessional learning and differences between genders and professions decreased. Participants were satisfied with the learning experience and assessment scores showed that all IPE learning outcomes were met. The LAU IPE Steps Framework may be of value to other interprofessional education course developers.     

Implementing and evaluating an interprofessional minority health conference for social work and healthcare professionals

Interprofessional education (IPE) is one strategy for addressing health inequities; however, little attention has been paid to continuing IPE for practicing social work and healthcare professionals. This article offers guidance to faculty in social work and health-related academic units on offering continuing IPE on the topic of minority health. An interprofessional group of faculty offered a day-long conference on minority health, ethics, and social justice. The conference goal was to promote interprofessional communication in a co-learning environment and promote dialogue on social determinants of health and health equity in the state. Data were obtained from surveys and analysis of work plans developed during the conference. Workshop participants were majority White (62%), social workers (79%), and practiced for 14 years on average. The most useful topics were dementia and polypharmacy. Takeaway strategies included interprofessional work, being mindful of access to resources, and engagement in continuing education. Lessons learned include plan in advance for all professions; recruit faculty and students from multiple departments to increase interprofessional diversity; offer strategies and incentives to increase student participation; be strategic about conference location and format; and identify a strategic format and theme. IPE is a means of preparing learners for working together in their future careers to provide high-quality patient-centred care and reduce health disparities. Professional development can provide an opportunity to enhance skills to address health disparities, and learning can be significantly enhanced when participants connect with colleagues from different professions, discuss diverse opinions, and share successful practices.     

Examining the effects of an experiential interprofessional education activity with older adults

The need for experienced healthcare professionals to work with older adults is great, yet educational training is limited. In this interprofessional education (IPE) study, 861 students from five professions made 293 visits in the homes or preferred community settings of 208 older adults. Surveys with quantitative and open-text feedback assessed attitudes towards older adults, IPE team functioning, and the value of home visits. Survey results showed strongly positive attitudes towards ageing and older adults. Students from all professions expressed surprise and admiration for the active lives led by these healthier older adults, lives clearly in contrast to stereotypes of ageing. They further acknowledged the value of collaborative team functioning in meeting older adult needs, learned more about the roles and responsibilities of other professions, and identified strengths of the home as a site for care. Students positively valued the experience as part of their professional training, with 82% of all students stating they would welcome additional IPE opportunities. Results suggest that an experiential IPE activity can positively shape student attitudes towards older adults, IPE, and interprofessional collaboration.     

Educators working together for interprofessional education: From “fragmented beginnings” to being “intentionally interprofessional”

This article explores the development of interprofessional relationships between healthcare educators working together for interprofessional education (IPE). As part of a collaborative dialogical inquiry, data from 19 semi-structured interviews and 9 focus groups were used to explore how IPE educators develop shared purpose to help students learn to work with other health professions. Consistent with this methodology, the research group and study participants comprised educators from eight different professions. Questions asked of the data, using a lens of intersubjectivity, included: “What implicit assumptions are brought to interactions?” and “What happens to these assumptions as educators interact?” The emergent themes caution against assuming that all educators initially bring to interprofessional spaces only positive attitudes towards all professions. Educators beginning in a fragmented interprofessional space needed to reflect on earlier negative experiences with particular professions for reframing in a socially aware interprofessional space to enable collaborating in an intentional interprofessional space.     

Studio-based learning in interprofessional education

Abstract

The recent growth of interprofessional education (IPE) in healthcare has been accompanied by exploration of teaching strategies to improve its effectiveness. Experts in IPE advise faculty to explore teaching models from other disciplines outside of healthcare. Studio-based learning (SBL) in design education embodies many of the features that are integral to effective IPE. Students work in teams to design new processes and products to solve complex and real-life problems. The purpose of this paper is to describe features of SBL that enhance IPE and examine student experiences of interprofessional learning from three healthcare design studios. Findings from an exploratory case study of these design studios involving students from a range of professions suggest that the students transition through learning stages in SBL that may enhance IPE. The paper goes on to discuss the unique features of SBL and how they offer new and complementary strategies for building interprofessional curricula.     

Teamwork,collaboration and networking: self-reported behavioural change following pre-licensure interprofessional clinical learning

ABSTRACT

The majority of studies exploring the impact of interprofessional education (IPE) for pre-licensure health professionals have focused on IPE experiences in the classroom, online or through simulation. Research into IPE in clinical settings has been carried out, however, to date most studies have focused on short-term outcomes related to learner reaction, attitudes and perceptions, and knowledge and skills. This study adds to the literature investigating IPE in clinical settings for pre-licensure health professionals by investigating the experiences of learners who, following their IPE clinical placement, had moved into other clinical (workplace) environments. To understand what, if any, influence the clinical IPE experience had on their subsequent professional practice, 13 participants (students and graduates) from five professions were interviewed. Inductive thematic analysis identified that, following their IPE placement, participants engaged in interprofessional practice by seeking and sharing information, embedding other professional goals into patient sessions and conducting joint sessions. Several factors influenced the ability and capacity to collaborate at the individual and organisation level. Findings from this study suggest that the dedicated IPE placements enhanced both student and graduate openness and ability to collaborate with other professions in subsequent clinical workplace settings.     

A comparison of student attitudes and perceptions before and after an introductory interprofessional education experience

Abstract

There is increasing acknowledgement that interprofessional education (IPE) holds promise for preparing health professionals as collaborative-ready practitioners. The effects of IPE on learning outcomes are critical in determining the value of such programs. Attitudes are recognized as a significant element in developing behaviors. This study was designed to determine attitudes and perceptions of students toward collaborative learning in an interprofessional context. Three hundred and five students completed a questionnaire regarding attitudes and perceptions toward interprofessional collaboration before and after an introductory IPE course. Also 202 graduating health professional students without IPE completed the same questionnaire. The questionnaire included questions from the University of West England Interprofessional Questionnaire (UWE IQ) and Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS). Independent samples t-tests revealed significant positive changes before and after the IPE course for UWEIQ IP-Learning subscale (p?=?0.012) and RIPLS (p?=?0.05). This study provides some evidence that students who participate in an introductory IPE course early in their professional preparation not only keep positive attitudes toward interprofessional learning, but improve them. As a result, they are expected to be more engaged in learning this important knowledge that should help them to become interprofessional collaborative-ready practitioners.     

Interprofessional socialization as a way to introduce collaborative competencies to first-year health science students

Abstract

Interprofessional education (IPE) is the cornerstone of preparing future health care providers but remains to be a challenge for many health science programs. We aimed to develop and evaluate an interprofessional conference for first-year health science students with goals to provide students with interprofessional socialization opportunity and introduce IPE principles. A half-day conference was based upon core competencies for health professionals and involved 277 first-year health sciences, nursing, pharmacy, physical therapy, and speech language pathology and audiology students. Alcohol and substance misuse was chosen as a topic for its relevance to college students and health professionals. Results from program evaluation revealed that the conference was successful in exposing students to core interprofessional competencies and provided useful information about alcohol and substance misuse. This study advocates for early inclusion of IPE in the health professions curricula in the form of interprofessional socialization.     

Using a real-life case scenario to integrate additional health professions students into an existing interprofessional team seminar

The World Health Organization stated that the goal of interprofessional education (IPE) is to prepare students as collaboration-ready members of interprofessional care teams. Educators try to create meaningful and relevant learning experiences for multiple health professions students. A longitudinal Interprofessional Team Seminar (IPTS) course includes over 650 students from seven health professions at the professional training level. Recommendations from the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) promote the inclusion of athletic training (AT) students in IPE initiatives. A new IPTS module included AT students focusing on the attributes of rapidly forming and different care teams as the patient transitions from an on-field injury, to acute care, inpatient care, and rehabilitative care, and back to activities of daily living. Qualitative review of reflections from the students assessed the impact of these IPTS modules. The intentional design of this course, focusing on behaviours of collaborative practice and supporting students to be collaboration ready, effectively introduced and highlighted profession-specific strengths and unique contributions to team-based care.     

Identifying key areas for active interprofessional learning partnerships: A facilitated dialogue

Student and service user involvement is recognised as an important factor in creating interprofessional education (IPE) opportunities. We used a team-based learning approach to bring together undergraduate health professional students, early career professionals (ECPs), public partners, volunteers, and carers to explore learning partnerships. Influenced by evaluative inquiry, this qualitative study used a free text response to allow participants to give their own opinion. A total of 153 participants (50 public partners and 103 students and professionals representing 11 healthcare professions) took part. Participants were divided into mixed groups of six (n = 25) and asked to identify areas where students, professionals, and public could work together to improve health professional education. Each group documented their discussions by summarising agreed areas and next steps. Responses were collected and transcribed for inductive content analysis. Seven key themes (areas for joint working) were identified: communication, public as partners, standards of conduct, IPE, quality improvement, education, and learning environments. The team-based learning format enabled undergraduate and postgraduate health professionals to achieve consensus with public partners on areas for IPE and collaboration. Some of our results may be context-specific but the approach is generalisable to other areas.     

Impact of team composition on student perceptions of interprofessional teamwork: A 6-year cohort study

Interprofessional education (IPE) provides students with opportunities to learn about the roles and responsibilities of other professions and develop communication and teamwork skills. As different health professions have recognised the importance of IPE, the number of disciplines participating in IPE events is increasing. Consequently, it is important to examine the effect group structure has on the learning environment and student knowledge acquisition during IPE events. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of group composition on student perceptions of interprofessional teamwork and collaboration when participating in a case-based IPE forum. To examine this construct, six cohorts of students were divided into two groups: Group-one (2010–2012) included students from five professions. Group-two (2013–2015) included students from 10 professions. The only other change for group-two was broadening the case scenarios to ensure a role for each profession. At the conclusion of the case-based IPE forums, both groups demonstrated a statistically significant increase in ‘readiness for interprofessional learning’ and ‘interdisciplinary education perceptions’. However, participants in group-one (2010–2012) demonstrated a greater change in scores when compared to group-two (2013–2015). It was concluded a case-based IPE forum with students from numerous health professions participating in a discussion about broad case scenarios was moderately effective at introducing students to other health professions and increasing their knowledge of others’ identities. However, a smaller grouping of professions with targeted cases was more effective at influencing student perceptions of the need for teamwork. When planning an IPE event, faculty should focus on intentional groupings of professions to reflect the social context of healthcare teams so all students can fully participate and experience shared learning.     

Health and social care professionals’ attitudes to interprofessional working and interprofessional education: A literature review

The healthcare setting is a rich learning environment for students to experience interprofessional working (IPW) and interprofessional education (IPE). However, opportunities for IPE are limited, and student experiences of effective IPW are varied. This raises the question of how IPW and IPE are valued by health or social care professionals. A search of the literature was carried out to identify studies of health and social care staff attitudes to IPW and IPE. This review provides a summary of the main factors found to influence attitudes and the strengths and limitations of these studies. Professional background and prior IPE experience were identified as the influencing factors for which there is most evidence. The main limitations of the studies accessed included a focus on the value of IPE for staff, as opposed to students, and a limited number of studies considering the relationship between attitudes to IPW and the value placed on IPE. It is important that health and social care professionals lead by example by working collaboratively and providing students with opportunities for IPE. Identifying the variables influencing attitudes to IPW and IPE may assist in improving IPW and experiences of IPE for students learning in the healthcare setting.