Assessment tools in pre-licensure interprofessional education: A systematic review, quality appraisal and narrative synthesis

Impact of a game-based interprofessional education program on medical students' perceptions: a text network analysis using essays

BACKGROUND

The increasing complexity of the healthcare environment and the necessity of multidisciplinary teamwork have highlighted the importance of interprofessional education (IPE). IPE aims to enhance the quality of patient care through collaborative education involving various healthcare professionals, such as doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. This study sought to analyze how game-based IPE activities influence students' perceptions and reflective thinking. It also aimed to identify the shifts in perception and effectiveness caused by this educational approach.

METHODS

The study is based on a game-based IPE program conducted at University A, involving medical and nursing students in structured learning and team-based activities. Data were collected using essays written by the students after they had participated in IPE activities. Text network analysis was conducted by extracting key terms, performing centrality analysis, and visualizing topic modeling to identify changes in students' perceptions and reflective thinking.

RESULTS

Keywords such as "patient," "thought," "group," "doctor," "nurse," and "communication" played a crucial role in the network, indicating that students prioritized enhancing their communication and problem-solving skills within the educational environment. The topic modeling results identified three main topics, each demonstrating the positive influence of game-based collaborative activities, interprofessional perspectives, and interdisciplinary educational experiences on students. Topic 3 (interdisciplinary educational experience) acted as a significant mediator connecting Topic 1 (game-based collaborative activity experience) and Topic 2 (interprofessional perspectives).

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrates that game-based IPE activities are an effective educational approach for enhancing students' team building skills, particularly communication and interprofessional perspectives. Based on these findings, future IPE programs should focus on creating collaborative learning environments, strengthening communication skills, and promoting interdisciplinary education. The findings provide essential insights for educational designers and medical educators to enhance the effectiveness of IPE programs. Future research should assess the long-term impacts of game-based IPE on clinical practice, patient outcomes, and participants' professional development.

Healthcare professionals' experiences of required competencies in mentoring of interprofessional students in clinical practice: A systematic review of qualitative studies

AIM

To synthesize evidence on healthcare professionals' experiences of competencies in mentoring undergraduate healthcare, social care and medical students during their interprofessional clinical practice.

DESIGN

This review was conducted by the JBI methodology for systematic reviews of qualitative evidence.

METHODS

Studies were included if they were based on the phenomenon of interest and used qualitative or mixed methods (qualitative share). The included studies were critically appraised using the standardized JBI Critical Appraisal Checklist. Qualitative research findings were extracted and synthesized using the meta-aggregation approach.

DATA SOURCES

Five databases (CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus, Medic and ProQuest) were systematically searched from each database's inception on 28 June 2023.

RESULTS

A total of 5164 studies were initially screened, and 25 were identified for inclusion in this review. Three synthesized findings were identified: competencies related to (1) preparing for and developing interprofessional clinical practice, (2) supporting the learning process in interprofessional clinical practice and (3) creating an interprofessional mentor identity.

CONCLUSION

Although competent mentors are essential to implementing and developing interprofessional clinical practice, some mentors find interprofessional mentoring challenging. High-quality interprofessional mentoring requires specific competence that differs from profession-specific and individual mentoring.

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION AND/OR PATIENT CARE

To ensure that interprofessional clinical practice is of high quality and strengthens students' professional and interprofessional growth, special attention should be given to mentors' interprofessional mentoring competence, and a range of opportunities and organizational structures should be provided for competence development.

IMPACT

This systematic review provides insights into the specific competencies required for interprofessional mentoring. These findings can support healthcare professionals, educators and policymakers in developing interprofessional clinical practice and mentoring competence.

REPORTING METHOD

This review adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) statement and ENTREQ reporting guidelines. No patient or public contribution.

Exploring UK undergraduate healthcare students' perspectives on how to effectively design IPE: A qualitative study

Objectives

To explore healthcare undergraduates' views on how to design effective IPE. The need for interprofessional education implementation in undergraduate healthcare education is gaining wide recognition globally. Students' views about their learning experiences can offer useful insights to advance teaching and learning courses. Thus, in the IPE literature, students' views on how to effectively design IPE can help shape future IPE plans.

Methods

Purposeful sampling was used to recruit healthcare students who attended IPE events across three UK institutions. Virtual focus groups were conducted, and audio recorded. Transcripts were thematically analysed and relevant themes were presented under three subheadings, pre, during and post IPE session.

Results

Twenty-five students from medicine, nursing, pharmacy, midwifery and other disciplines participated in six focus groups. Students thought IPE should be offered consistently across the programme's years of study to ensure learning continuity. Students from programmes with higher placement hours (nursing and midwifery), suggested more IPE in placement. Pre-IPE sessions, introducing IPE to students attending for the first time was perceived to be important as the lack of awareness/understanding of IPE could adversely impact their willingness to attend and their engagement. During IPE, interaction with other students was perceived as the core of an effective IPE session. Students reported difficulties in communication with other students via online IPE sessions and thought they were less engaged compared to face-to-face sessions. Post-IPE, students valued reflective exercises, whereas traditional formal assessment was seen as a barrier to engagement with the learning.

Conclusion

Students considered IPE valuable to prepare for future practice. However, students felt that IPE experiences could be enhanced with proper planning to ensure regular compulsory IPE exposure. For better IPE experiences, IPE design and delivery should be in line with each healthcare programme's unique learning and training curriculum.

Evolving global responses to the pandemic: sustaining interprofessional education and collaborative practice

The COVID-19 pandemic created global disruption in health professions education and healthcare practice, necessitating an abrupt move to digital delivery. A longitudinal survey was conducted to track the evolution of global responses to the pandemic. During the initial stages, educational and health institutions were forced to adapt quickly without careful consideration of optimal pedagogy, practices, and effectiveness of implemented approaches. In this paper, we report the results of Phase 3 of the global survey that was distributed between November 2021 and February 2022 through InterprofessionalResearch.Global (IPR.Global). The Phase 3 qualitative survey received 27 responses, representing 25 institutions from 13 countries in 6 regions. Using inductive thematic analysis, the data analysis resulted in three emerging themes: Impact of the pandemic on the delivery of interprofessional education and collaborative practice (IPECP); Impact of the pandemic on the healthcare system (team, population/client health, clients); and Sustainability and innovation. This study highlights the evolving nature of health education and collaborative practices in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. IPECP educators need to be resilient and deal with the complexities of face-to-face and digital learning delivery. Preparing for emerging forms of teamwork is essential for new work contexts and optimal health services.

A systematic review and quality appraisal of interprofessional behavioral assessment instruments for nursing education

Instruments to assess interprofessional behaviors in prelicensure interprofessional education (IPE) lack validity and reliability data. No individual behavioral assessment instrument met all standards of the Quality Appraisal of Interprofessional Learning Scales (QuAILS) checklist (Oates & Davidson, 2015). The IPA and iSOFT instruments provided the most substantial validity and reliability evidence. Future validation research studies of interprofessional education (IPE) behavioral instruments that evaluate interprofessional professionalism (IPP) domains are needed in nursing education.

A pilot study evaluating the feasibility of assessing undergraduate pharmacy and medical students interprofessional collaboration during an online interprofessional education intervention about hospital discharge

BACKGROUND

Interprofessional education (IPE) has been identified as a strategy towards improving competence at interprofessional working and collaboration within teams. Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) provide a framework for translating competencies into elements of clinical practice, some of which in healthcare are inherently interprofessional. However, it is challenging to reconcile that entrustment decisions about student competence in an interprofessional activity are made about an individual without considering the dynamics and tensions between interprofessional team members and the task itself. This can influence students' development and demonstration of competence at interprofessional collaboration.

METHODS

In this study, undergraduate medical and pharmacy students worked in pairs online (Zoom) to undertake the hospital discharge process (a professional activity reliant on interprofessional collaboration) for a simulated patient, producing a hospital discharge letter and completing a consultation with the simulated patient. The online sessions were recorded and interprofessional behaviours were assessed using a validated scale completed by an interprofessional assessment team. Students undertook this IPE intervention three times after receiving feedback and a period of reflection each time.

RESULTS

Eighteen students participated across the entire intervention and 27 one-hour online IPE sessions were completed and recorded. Students demonstrated statistically significant improvements in interprofessional behaviours across the three iterations (p < 0.05 for all the sessions). The discharge letter students produced also improved over the three sessions (p = 0.01). Students found the educational sessions useful and relevant.

CONCLUSION

This online IPE intervention provided the students with an authentic opportunity to work collaboratively. At the end of each iteration, students received feedback about their work as a team and about the discharge letter, helping students to reflect and purposefully develop their performance. The IPE intervention with this assessment strategy is feasible and allows student development to be captured but has proved to be time and resource intensive.

Teaching (remotely) to communicate (remotely) with relatives of patients during lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Aim

In 2020, due to the pandemic, the lack of specific knowledge on breaking bad news over the phone became apparent. This study aims at assessing the differences, or lack thereof, in satisfaction reported by participants in the different formats of a course in telephone communication for breaking bad news to families of patients, developed based on the previous experience of a team dedicated to this task during the peak of the pandemic.

Methods

Four courses were delivered, two in a fully streamed format and two in a blended format, part pre-recorded, part streamed. There were 41 attendants, mostly doctors, but also nurses, social workers, occupational therapists, and administrative staff who deal with families. Subsequently, a survey was conducted to assess the degree of satisfaction of the participants.

Results

Both formats scored very positively, with small advantages for the fully streamed format, mainly due to the difference in interaction activities.

Conclusions

The main conclusion is the need for these courses, which are demanded by the professionals themselves, without forgetting the benefit obtained from interprofessional education that enriches interaction and learning.

Innovation

The inclusion of administrative staff allows for a global vision of care for family members, which improves it.

Teaching staff in interprofessional education: A proposed terminology

Different terms (e.g., interprofessional, multiprofessional, interdisciplinary) are used in interprofessional education and collaboration without sufficient differentiation or precision in regard to meaning. In recent years academic publications in English and German have contributed to clarifying this issue. However, there are no definitions internationally or in the German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) specifically referring to the people engaged in teaching interprofessional education. Teaching in interprofessional education has evolved from the traditional role of expert to one of mentor or facilitator. It is also evident that those who teach play a central role in the success of interprofessional courses. While many different designations are used to refer to interprofessional teachers in the relevant literature and in the language of daily use, a uniform and adequate terminology should be used to refer to such teaching staff. Based on literature reviews, this commentary seeks to propose terms for teaching staff active in the area of interprofessional education and thus provide a basis for discussion in the German-speaking countries. Taking the results of the literature analysis and the roles of teachers in interprofessional settings into consideration, we propose that the English term "IP facilitator" (IP for interprofessional) should also be used in the German-speaking world and "facilitateur IP" in the French-speaking world. A French translation is included in attachment 1 to enable broader discussion in Switzerland.

Position paper of the GMA Committee Interprofessional Education in the Health Professions - current status and outlook

In the wake of local initiatives and developmental funding programs, interprofessionality is now included in national curricula in the German-speaking countries. Based on the 3P model (presage, process, product), this position paper presents the development of interprofessional education in recent years in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and places it in an international context. Core aspects as legal frameworks, including amendments to occupational regulations as well as the formation of networks and faculty development are basic requirements for interprofessional education. New topics and educational settings take shape in the process of interprofessional education: patient perspectives and teaching formats, such as online courses, become more important or are newly established. The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on interprofessional education is explored as well. Among many new interprofessional courses, particularly the implementation of interprofessional training wards in Germany and Switzerland are positive examples of successful interprofessional education. The objective of interprofessional education continues to be the acquisition of interprofessional competencies. The main focus is now centered on evaluating this educational format and testing for the corresponding competencies. In the future, more capacities will be required for interprofessional continuing education and post-graduate education. Structured research programs are essential to ascertain the effects of interprofessional education in the German-speaking countries. In this position paper the GMA committee on interprofessional education encourages further advancement of this topic and expresses the aim to continue cooperating with other networks to strengthen and intensify interprofessional education and collaboration in healthcare.