Learning outcomes for interprofessional education (IPE): Literature review and synthesis

Evaluation of an interprofessional education workshop about common ocular conditions for pharmacy and optometry students

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

Interprofessional education and collaborative working are known to improve patient outcomes. The evidence to support this approach in optometry is lacking.

BACKGROUND

There is no published evidence into the effectiveness of interprofessional education for pharmacy and optometry students. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an interprofessional case-based learning session that took place between third year pharmacy students and final year optometry students at the University of Manchester.

METHODS

Students worked together in a 1.5-hour workshop to help each other gain an understanding of common ocular conditions that may present to primary care. Students were randomised into two groups; the control group answered all the pre and post questions before the teaching session. The intervention group answered the pre questions at the beginning and the post questions immediately after the teaching session. Nonparametric statistics were employed to look for differences in the two groups.

RESULTS

The control groups of pharmacy and optometry students did not significantly differ in their pre and post test scores (p = .069 pharmacy and p = .082 for optometry). The post scores for the intervention group were significantly higher than the control group. For pharmacy students the control group post score average was 44.9% (±20.5) and the intervention group was 63.2% (±15.9). For optometry students the control group post score average was 35% (±21.2) and the intervention group was 57.5% (±19.9).

CONCLUSION

Interprofessional education is a useful way to increase student knowledge of the management of authentic clinical cases in primary care.

Where is the voice of lived experience in interprofessional education? A scoping review

The main goal of interprofessional education (IPE) is to improve services and the quality of care for patients, their families, and communities. Enabling different professional learners, or others with relevant care roles, to learn together, is expected to advance care delivery. For both pre and post-registration learning, it therefore follows that listening to and working with service users is essential to underpin interprofessional learning. We completed a scoping review to identify how service users were involved in the design, delivery, and management of IPE. We searched the literature from the rise of curriculum alignment for IPE in 2000 to 2023, we identified 13 papers. Our analysis of these 13 papers showed that pre-registration students appreciated learning from service users' experiences of care but often the user input was not combined with a deeper appreciation for what this means for effective interprofessional practice. Post-qualified clinical teams involved service users in the design and development of services, often with care and support. Theoretical understandings about service user involvement in IPE for how learning took place or to explain the concepts involved, were limited. Where service users were involved in IPE, there was often little support with little attention to the skills of interprofessional facilitation. Theoretically informed research on the involvement of the service users voice in IPE requires further consideration.

Culture and context in Interprofessional education: Expectations in Australia and Japan

The attributes of collaborative practice in health care vary across contexts, necessitating the adaptation of interprofessional education curricula to prepare students for the collaborative practice expected in their respective health care systems. Culture, when conceptualised through an organisational lens, allows an analysis of the shared assumptions, beliefs and values, without seeking to reduce to a uniform construct. This article explores the differences in interprofessional education competencies between Australia and Japan and considers the systems and patient expectations, which underpin each. While collaborative competence exhibits some similarities across contexts, competency frameworks differ in emphasis, language and key terminology, which highlight multiple points of difference in the expectations of interprofessional collaborative practice across contexts. There are education and practice consequences of these different perspectives of collaborative practice, in an increasingly mobile international workforce.

A Scoping Review of Pakistani Healthcare Simulation: Insights for Lower-Middle-Income Countries

Healthcare simulation has gained global recognition in health professions education, yet its adoption in Pakistan, a lower-middle-income country (LMIC), remains limited. This scoping review aimed to explore how simulation is integrated into healthcare education in Pakistan, highlighting challenges and opportunities to inform similar LMICs. Pakistan serves as a critical case study for LMICs due to its unique challenges, including uneven access to simulation technologies and limited faculty training, which are shared by many similar resource-constrained settings. Using the Arksey and O'Malley framework, a systematic review of 693 publications identified 145 studies that met inclusion criteria. The findings revealed diverse simulation modalities primarily focused on skills training and clinical decision-making. Notable innovations included low-cost simulation solutions, effectively addressing resource constraints. However, significant gaps emerged, including an urban-centric focus with limited rural representation, insufficient evaluation of long-term impacts, and the absence of standardized terminology and training protocols. These challenges hinder broader integration and equitable access to simulation-based learning. Addressing these gaps through strategic collaborations, capacity-building initiatives, and innovative, cost-effective solutions, such as low-cost simulators crafted from readily available materials, could enhance simulation adoption in Pakistan and similar LMICs. This review highlights the importance of adopting evidence-based practices, increasing funding, and conducting comprehensive research on simulation's long-term impact to ensure effective implementation and improved healthcare education and outcomes globally.

Teaching digital interprofessional collaboration

BACKGROUND

Interprofessional communication in Australian clinical practice has recently shifted from paper records to electronic medical records (EMRs), and there is therefore a need for universities to prepare health graduates for digital communication.

APPROACH

An interprofessional team co-designed and co-facilitated an online interprofessional activity for third year pharmacy and fifth year medical students utilising a simulated EMR (EHR Go™). Students completed a series of profession-specific tasks relating to a simulated patient, then came together in interprofessional groups of 10-12 to establish a collaborative medication charting plan.

EVALUATION

A total of 640 students participated in the activity, of which 60% (386/640) were medical students. Immediately after the interprofessional workshop, students were invited to complete a voluntary anonymous evaluation. Five-point Likert scales were used to rate the relevance to practice, achievement of learning outcomes, organisation and overall quality of the activity. Students were also asked to contribute qualitative feedback. Of the participants, 28% (180/640) completed the survey, and 53% (96/180) of respondents were medical students. A majority of survey respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the activity was relevant to practice (94%; 170/180), achieved the learning outcomes (84%; 151/180), was well organised (74%; 133/180) and was a quality learning experience (79%; 143/180). The positive feedback focused on appreciating the opportunity to discuss with interdisciplinary colleagues the rationale for admission medications. Constructive feedback included the need for clearer directives regarding pre-workshop activities.

IMPLICATIONS

This interprofessional education (IPE) activity presents a feasible, innovative approach to teaching pharmacy and medical students digital communication and collaboration using a simulated EMR. Overall, a majority of learners were satisfied with the learning experience and felt that the IPE activity achieved the learning outcomes and was relevant to practice.

Video-based peer assessment of collaborative teamwork in a large-scale interprofessional learning activity

BACKGROUND

The assessment of team performance within large-scale Interprofessional Learning (IPL) initiatives is an important but underexplored area. It is essential for demonstrating the effectiveness of collaborative learning outcomes in preparing students for professional practice. Using Kane's validity framework, we investigated whether peer assessment of student-produced videos depicting collaborative teamwork in an IPL activity was sufficiently valid for decision-making about team performance, and where the sources of error might lie to optimise future iterations of the assessment.

METHODS

A large cohort of health professional students (n = 1218) of 8 differing professions was divided into teams containing 5-6 students. Each team collaborated on producing a short video to evidence their management of one of 12 complex patient cases. Students from two other teams, who had worked on the same case, individually rated each video using a previously developed assessment scale. A generalisability study quantified sources of error that impacted the reliability of peer assessment of collaborative teamwork. A decision study modeled the impact of differing numbers of raters. A modified Angoff determined the pass/fail mark.

RESULTS

Within a large-scale learning activity, peer assessment of collaborative teamwork was reliable (G = 0.71) based on scoring by students from two teams (n = 10-12) for each video. The main sources of variation were the stringency and subjectivity of fellow student assessors. Whilst professions marked with differing stringency, and individual student assessors had different views of the quality of a particular video, none of that individual assessor variance was attributable to the assessors' profession. Teams performed similarly across the 12 cases overall, and no particular professions marked differently on any particular case.

CONCLUSION

A peer assessment of a student-produced video depicting interprofessional collaborative teamwork around the management of complex patient cases can be valid for decision-making about student team performance. Further refining marking rubrics and student assessor training could potentially modify assessor subjectivity. The impact of professions on assessing individual peers and the case-specificity of team performances in IPL settings need further exploration. This innovative approach to assessment offers a promising avenue for enhancing the measurement of collaborative learning outcomes in large-scale Interprofessional learning initiatives.

Interprofessional Education in Child Protection for Preservice Health and Allied Health Professionals: A Scoping Review

Health and allied health professionals are uniquely positioned to collaborate in prevention, early intervention and responses to child maltreatment. Effective collaboration requires comprehensive interprofessional education (IPE), and inadequate collaboration across sectors and professions continually contributes to poor outcomes for children. Little is known about what interprofessional preparation health and allied health professionals receive before initial qualification (preservice) that equips them for interprofessional collaboration and provision of culturally safe care in child protection. This scoping review aimed to identify what is known internationally about IPE in child protection for preservice health and allied health professionals. Thirteen manuscripts reporting 12 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the synthesis. Key characteristics of the educational interventions are presented, including target disciplines, core content and their learning objectives and activities. Findings demonstrated primarily low-quality methodologies and educational interventions that had not been replicated beyond their initial context. Many educational interventions did not provide comprehensive content covering the spectrum of prevention, early intervention and responses for all types of child maltreatment, and/or did not clearly indicate how IPE was achieved. Key challenges to delivering comprehensive interprofessional child protection include lack of institutional support and competing priorities across disciplines who must meet requirements of separate regulatory bodies. Consequently, there is a need for further development and robust evaluation of educational interventions to explore how interprofessional collaborative skills for child protection can be developed and delivered in preservice health and allied health professional education.

ALLin4IPE- an international research study on interprofessional health professions education: a protocol for an ethnographic multiple-case study of practice architectures in sites of students' interprofessional clinical placements across four universities

BACKGROUND

The global discourse on future health care emphasises that learning to collaborate across professions is crucial to assure patient safety and meet the changing demands of health care. The research on interprofessional education (IPE) is diverse but with gaps in curricula design and how IPE is enacted in practice.

PURPOSE AND AIMS

This research project will identify. 1) how IPE in clinical placements emerges, evolves, and is enacted by students when embedded in local health care practices, 2) factors critical for the design of IPE for students at clinical placements across the four countries.

METHODS

A study involving four countries (Sweden, Norway, Australia and New Zealand) using the theory of practice architectures will be undertaken between 2023 and 2027. The project is designed as an international, collaborative multiple-case ethnographic study, using the theoretical framework of practice architectures (TPA). It will include four ethnographic case studies of IPE, one in each country. Data will be collected in the following sequence: (1) participant observation of students during interprofessional placements, (2) interviews with students at clinical placement and stakeholders/professionals, (3) Non-clinical documents may be used to support the analysis, and collection of photos may be use as memory aids for documenting context. An analysis of "sayings, doings and relatings" will address features of the cultural- discursive, material-economic, social-political elements making up the three key dimensions of TPA. Each of the four international cases will be analysed separately. A cross case analysis will be undertaken to establish common learning and critical IPE design elements across the four collaborating universities.

DISCUSSION

The use of TPA framework and methodology in the analysis of data will make it possible to identify comparable dimensions across the four research sites, enabling core questions to be addressed critical for the design of IPE. The ethnographic field studies will generate detailed descriptions that take account of country-specific cultural and practice contexts. The study will also generate new knowledge as to how IPE can be collaboratively researched.

Interprofessional education in cancer care - a scoping review

BACKGROUND

Comprehensive cancer care requires effective collaboration by interprofessional healthcare teams. The need to develop educational initiatives to improve interprofessional collaboration is increasingly recognised. However, there is no agreement regarding the interprofessional competencies required for effective cancer care leading to much variation on the focus of research, planning and managing change. A scoping review was conducted to identify the current status of IPE in cancer care and to summarise the results of previous research in order to guide the development of interprofessional education in cancer care.

METHODS

The JBI Scoping Review guidelines were used to guide the process of the review. A search of the available literature was conducted in CINAHL, MEDLINE (Ovid), PubMed, PsycInfo, Scopus databases from January 2012 to March 2023 to investigate IPE for health professional clinicians working in cancer care.

RESULTS

Of the 825 initial references and 153 studies imported for screening, a total of 28 studies were included in the final review. From those studies, seven focused on the need for IPE and interprofessional competence for oncology healthcare professionals, four reviewed existing IPE programs and 17 described the development and evaluation of interprofessional education. Findings show variation and lack of concept definitions underpinning research in IPE in cancer care settings. Variation also exists in the range of research activities in IPE, most notably related to communication, teamwork and the development of interprofessional practice. The evaluation of impact of IPE is mainly focused on health care professionals' self-evaluation and general feedback. Impact on patient care was only evaluated in one study.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the results, interprofessional education research in the field of cancer care is limited in Europe. Thus, there is a significant increase in publications in the last five years. A more systematic focus on the theoretical framework and definition of concepts would be of value. Research and programme development should be based on a shared understanding on what constitutes the interprofessional competences and IPE. Programmes to develop interprofessional practice should be developed and implemented systematically with inclusion of validated assessment methods, and evaluated and improved regularly.

Evaluating Interprofessional Education Readiness and Perceptions Among Health Professions Students

Background

Inter-professional learning (IPL) or more broadly Inter-professional Education (IPE) refer to a pedagogical approach that involves creating a learning experience where students from different professions learn about, from, and with each other. IPE is crucial for preparing health professionals to offer patient-centered care as part of an interdisciplinary team. This study aims to assess the readiness for IPL among students from different health professions colleges at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences.

Methods

A cross-sectional design was conducted for this study, with a total of 476 undergraduate students from College of Medicine, College of Nursing, and College of Applied Medical Sciences. By using quota sampling, the readiness for interprofessional learning scale (RIPLS) was used to assess the student's readiness for interprofessional learning.

Results

The overall mean score of RIPLS for the students participating was 76.20, with the highest mean score in teamwork and collaboration at 39.73. The lowest mean score was in roles and responsibility at 8.45. The professional identity subscale had a mean score of 26.85. A significant difference in professional identity was found between students in applied medical sciences, nursing, and medicine colleges.

Conclusion

The study reveals that undergraduate students have positive attitudes towards interprofessional education, which can enhance their engagement in developing competencies necessary for effective contribution to interprofessional healthcare teams. High readiness among medical, nursing, and applied medical sciences students allows for the Introduction of IPL.

Let's Learn Together! A Mixed-Methods Study to Assess Readiness for Interprofessional Education on Total Worker Health® Practice

BACKGROUND

Occupational safety and health (OSH) professionals increasingly need interdisciplinary collaborative practice competencies to respond to complex worker safety, health, and well-being risks. Effective collaboration with non-OSH-trained professionals (e.g., health promotion, human resources) is critical for planning integrated interventions that address work and non-work risks, consistent with a "Total Worker Health" (TWH) approach. Interprofessional education (IPE) pedagogy offers skill-building for interdisciplinary collaboration, but little attention has been given to IPE in OSH education and training literature. The goal of this study was to assess OSH professionals' perceptions about IPE to guide application in postgraduate TWH education.

METHODS

The mixed-methods study involved 210 U.S. professionals in safety (31%), industrial hygiene (16%), occupational nursing (12%) and medicine (11%), and related disciplines (30%). Participants completed a 12-item Readiness for Interprofessional Education Scale (RIPLS) adapted for TWH. Nineteen survey-takers also participated in virtual focus groups to share opinions about IPE benefits, barriers, and desirable course features.

FINDINGS

Occupational safety and health professionals reported high overall readiness for IPE (RIPLS, 4.45 ± 0.47), endorsing IPE for interdisciplinary skill-building. Salient IPE motivators were learning new perspectives from diverse disciplines and industries; gaining new subject expertise; developing common ground across disciplines; and learning TWH best practices. Participants recommended case studies to practice interdisciplinary problem-solving through group work.

CONCLUSIONS/APPLICATION TO PRACTICE

Interprofessional education is a promising pedagogy for OSH continuing education to promote interdisciplinary collaboration skills needed for TWH practice in the workplace. Occupational safety and health educators need to build competency in IPE pedagogical theory and practice to ensure effective training design and evaluation.

Describing the evidence linking interprofessional education interventions to improving the delivery of safe and effective patient care: a scoping review

Empirical evidence indicates that collaborative interprofessional practice leads to positive health outcomes. Further, there is an abundance of evidence examining student and/or faculty perceptions of learning or satisfaction about the interprofessional education (IPE) learning experience. However, there is a dearth of research linking IPE interventions to patient outcomes. The objective of this scoping review was to describe and summarize the evidence linking IPE interventions to the delivery of effective patient care. A three-step search strategy was utilized for this review with articles that met the following criteria: publications dated 2015-2020 using qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods; the inclusion of healthcare professionals, students, or practitioners who had experienced IPE or training that included at least two collaborators within coursework or other professional education; and at least one of ten Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services quality measures (length of stay, medication errors, medical errors, patient satisfaction scores, medication adherence, patient and caregiver education, hospice usage, mortality, infection rates, and readmission rates). Overall, n=94 articles were identified, providing overwhelming evidence supporting a positive relationship between IPE interventions and several key quality health measures including length of stay, medical errors, patient satisfaction, patient or caregiver education, and mortality. Findings from this scoping review suggest a critical need for the development, implementation, and evaluation of IPE interventions to improve patient outcomes.

"Everyone who wants to can practice on me"- a qualitative study of patients' view on health profession students' learning in an interprofessional clinical placement

INTRODUCTION

Healthcare services face significant challenges due to the aging population, increasing complexity of health issues, and a global shortage of health professionals. Health professions education needs to adapt and develop with healthcare services' needs. Interprofessional education and patient partnership are two trends that are increasingly being reinforced. Health professions students worldwide are expected to acquire competencies in interprofessional collaboration through undergraduate and postgraduate studies. Developing interprofessional collaborative skills in clinical placements is crucial. This study aims to explore two patients' meetings with an interprofessional student team and better understand how the patient can participate actively in the students´ learning processes.

METHODS

This is a small single-case study. Two patients participated. Data was generated through participant observation and qualitative interviews. A practical iterative framework for qualitative data analysis inspired the analysis.

RESULTS

The patients observed and reflected on the interprofessional students' learning process and felt responsible for contributing to their learning. The patients contributed to students' learning by making themselves available for practicing and sometimes giving feedback. They considered it a win-win situation to be involved in the interprofessional learning activity as they perceived being taken seriously by the students when addressing their problems and experienced positive outcomes for their situation, such as better physical functioning and adjustments to assistive devices. Patients emphasized the importance of learning collaboration between health professionals and how this could contribute to them feeling safer as patients.

DISCUSSION

This study highlights the importance of including patients in interprofessional students' learning processes. Patients' active participation in interprofessional clinical placements can empower them, improve their self-efficacy, and potentially shift the power dynamic between patients and healthcare professionals. The study emphasizes the importance of the patient perspective in future research on interprofessional education in clinical settings. The study also highlights the need for clinical supervisors to facilitate patient involvement in interprofessional clinical placements and reinforce patients' feedback for the student team.

CONCLUDING COMMENTS

Overall, this study contributes to the growing body of research on interprofessional education and patient partnership and emphasizes the importance of including patients in health professions education.

A qualitative study to explore student learning and development of interprofessional collaboration during an online interprofessional education intervention

Interprofessional education (IPE) during undergraduate education and training has been found to improve collaboration between health care students. This supports interprofessional working in clinical practice to enhance patient safety and care delivery.Undergraduate students from pharmacy and medical programmes worked online in pairs to review notes of hospital patients due to be discharged. Students were tasked to complete a discharge letter and undertake an online consultation with a simulated patient prior to discharge. Online interactions were recorded and assessed using a validated tool to measure interprofessional professionalism. Students undertook this intervention in different pairings with different patient cases for three iterations after receiving feedback and undertaking a reflective exercise.The aim was to investigate the student learning and development that could be used to inform intervention optimisation and scale-up.Qualitative data were collected from different sources. Method triangulation was employed to develop a comprehensive understanding of the student learning and development. Data was collected from written feedback provided by the assessment team, student reflections on their performance, and from semi-structured interviews conducted with the student pairs and one to one with the assessment team. Content and thematic analysis was used to analyse these data and the Kirkpatrick/Barr evaluation model provided a framework to organise the themes.Eighteen students (nine from each professional programme) completed the study and a total of 27 IPE sessions were conducted. The assessment team completed 54 assessment tools and 31 student reflections were received (from a maximum of 36). Students were interviewed in their interprofessional pairs to yield nine interview transcripts and one interview was conducted with the assessment team.Students reported and were observed to improve in interprofessional collaboration over the three iterations following feedback and rehearsal opportunities. Longitudinal observation and assessment of student interprofessional working in changing teams provided the opportunity to capture the influence of interdependence on student performance and assessment of competence.

Defining Physician-Nurse Efforts toward Collaboration as Perceived by Medical Students

Collaboration between physicians and nurses is essential to healthcare delivery and is associated with high-quality patient care, greater patient satisfaction, and better health outcomes. Hence, it is imperative that doctors and nurses have a particular set of interprofessional collaboration skills. This descriptive cross-sectional study assessed how medical students in the pre-clinical and clinical years perceived attitudes toward collaboration between physicians and nurses in a hospital setting. The Jefferson Scale of Attitude toward Physician-nurse Collaboration (JSAPNC) was reverse-translated into Arabic for the current study. The results showed a total JSAPNC mean score of 46.55, lower than other medical students in other universities. In general, the results of the study showed no significant difference in the total JSAPNC score among medical students when analyzed according to age, clinical exposure, and year level, except in the two factors of JSAPNC: shared education and teamwork (p = 0.038) and caring as opposed to curing (p = 0.043). The findings of this study suggest the necessity of integrating interprofessional education (IPE) across the medical school curriculum because, as future physicians, medical students would be well equipped to treat their patients in partnership with their nursing colleagues.

The implementation of interprofessional education: a scoping review

INTRODUCTION

Implementation of interprofessional education (IPE) is recognised as challenging, and well-designed programs can have differing levels of success depending on implementation quality. The aim of this review was to summarise the evidence for implementation of IPE, and identify challenges and key lessons to guide faculty in IPE implementation.

METHODS

Five stage scoping review of methodological characteristics, implementation components, challenges and key lessons in primary studies in IPE. Thematic analysis using a framework of micro (teaching), meso (institutional), and macro (systemic) level education factors was used to synthesise challenges and key lessons.

RESULTS

Twenty-seven primary studies were included in this review. Studies were predominantly descriptive in design and implementation components inconsistently reported. IPE was mostly integrated into curricula, optional, involved group learning, and used combinations of interactive and didactic approaches. Micro level implementation factors (socialisation issues, learning context, and faculty development), meso level implementation factors (leadership and resources, administrative processes), and macro level implementation factors (education system, government policies, social and cultural values) were extrapolated. Sustainability was identified as an additional factor in IPE implementation.

CONCLUSION

Lack of complete detailed reporting limits evidence of IPE implementation, however, this review highlighted challenges and yielded key lessons to guide faculty in the implementation of IPE.

Communication Training: Significance and Effects of a Preliminary Psychological Intervention upon an Audit Team

Communication constitutes an essential aspect of teamwork. This is especially true for audit teams, where communication takes place not only within the work group but also with the audit recipients. For this reason, given the poor evidence in the literature, communication training was carried out on an audit team. Training was divided into 10 meetings of two hours each, with the meetings taking place over 2 months. Questionnaires were administered to identify the characteristics and styles of communication, to assess the sense of perceived self-efficacy in general and at work, and to evaluate the knowledge inherent in the communication. This battery was administered before and after the training to evaluate its effectiveness and its effects on self-efficacy, communication style, and knowledge. Furthermore, a communication audit was performed on the feedback provided by the team, to highlight satisfaction, strengths, and any critical issues that emerged during the feedback phase. The results obtained suggest that training has an effect not only on individual knowledge but also on personological aspects. Communication among colleagues and general self-efficacy appear to be improved by the process. Self-efficacy also specifically improves in the work environment, with subjects feeling more able to manage relationships and collaborations with colleagues and supervisors. Moreover, the audit team members were satisfied with the training received, perceiving an improvement in their own communication skills during the feedback phases.

Comparing outcomes of an innovative interprofessional student placement model to standard placement models in rural healthcare settings

This unique study investigated the educational and service delivery impacts of a team-based, innovative model of interprofessional education (IPE) namely the Rural Interprofessional Education and Supervision (RIPES) model on participating students, clinical educators, and their workplaces, in rural Australian healthcare settings. Participating professions included dietetics, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and speech pathology. Outcomes from the RIPES model were compared with regular uni-professional placement models. A multi-site, pre-post, comparative design was used. The main data collection measures included were the Students Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education - Revised scale, the Interprofessional Socialization and Valuing Scale, and time-usage data. The RIPES model resulted in significant improvement in students' beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes that underpin interprofessional socialization and collaborative practice in healthcare settings. Importantly, students were able to benefit from the RIPES learning activities without compromising their contact time with patients. Clinical educators spent significantly more time in non-patient contact activities than the uni-professional group. This important work was undertaken in response to previous calls to address a gap in IPE models in rural areas. It involved students from multiple professions and universities, measured impacts on multiple stakeholders, and followed international best practice interprofessional education research recommendations.

Expectations of social workers for interprofessional practice in healthcare: qualitative insights from practicing physician, nurse, and social work professionals

Expectations of the social work role within healthcare teams was explored utilizing perceptions of physicians, nurses, and social workers from a variety of healthcare settings and specialties. Thematic categories illuminated intraprofessional and interprofessional perceptions of experiences pertinent to the inclusion of social work services. Responsibilities for social work healthcare practice in specialist settings included providing assessments, counseling to address emotional and social wellbeing, assisting in coordination of systems, and management of systemic family issues. Traits expected of the social worker included expressing confidence, communication aptitude, and basic knowledge of medical terminology.

Improving interprofessional communication: Conceptualizing, operationalizing and testing a healthcare improvisation communication workshop

BACKGROUND

Communication errors are a leading cause of adverse events in the acute and ambulatory healthcare setting. We now understand that communication within and across professions and patients is a complex achievement with numerous barriers, including cultural, educational, and structural hurdles. Improvisation has been identified as an approach with great potential to develop communication skills for multi-disciplinary healthcare students.

OBJECTIVE

We report on the interdisciplinary conceptualization, operationalization, and effectiveness testing of a novel educational healthcare improvisation communication workshop.

DESIGN

Prospective pre-post test experimental.

SETTING

University of California, Irvine.

PARTICIPANTS

Total of 158 nursing, medicine, and population health students.

METHODS

We conceptualized improvisation through the constructs of presence, trust, and acceptance to develop workshop activities, then used the Kirkpatrick Learning Framework to test the workshop's feasibility, learning outcomes, and preliminary behavior changes.

RESULTS

Participants rated the feasibility of the workshop highly. Pre-post workshop effectiveness testing showed significant increases in communication and collaboration competencies. Qualitative data suggested workshop activities were powerful learning modality because they were premised by introducing their conceptual underpinning and providing tangible examples via the video and debrief. Qualitative data also suggested preliminary behavior changes post workshop.

CONCLUSIONS

We have developed and tested a communication teaching modality with strong conceptual grounding and empirical evidence of its efficacy in engaging healthcare students in collaborative communication, with documented evidence of learning that health educators can use in their courses. Future research is needed (and currently underway) to generate the evidence that the workshop can be adopted and sustained within a multi-school curriculum, which includes testing the feasibility of cross-school curriculum logistics (i.e. cross-listing the course to meet different school registrar policies, teaching workload sharing across faculty, etc.), as well as continued effectiveness testing.

The priorities, challenges, and scope of clinical communication teaching perceived by clinicians from different disciplines: a Hong Kong case study

Background

In the absence of a well-rounded syllabus that emphasises both interpersonal and medical dimensions in clinical communication, medical students in the early stages of their career may find it challenging to effectively communicate with patients, especially when dealing with perceived priorities and challenges across different disciplines.

Methods

To explore the priorities, challenges, and scope of clinical communication teaching as perceived by clinicians from different clinical disciplines, we recruited nine medical educators, all experienced frontline clinicians, from eight disciplines across seven hospitals and two medical schools in Hong Kong. They were interviewed on their clinical communication teaching in the Hong Kong context, specifically its priorities, challenges, and scope. We then performed interpretative phenomenological analysis of the interview data.

Results

The interview data revealed five themes related to the priorities, challenges, and scope of clinical communication teaching across a wide range of disciplines in the Hong Kong context, namely (1) empathising with patients; (2) using technology to teach both the medical and interpersonal dimensions of clinical communication; (3) shared decision-making with patients and their families: the influence of Chinese collectivism and cultural attitudes towards death; (4) interdisciplinary communication between medical departments; and (5) the role of language in clinician–patient communication.

Conclusions

Coming from different clinical disciplines, the clinicians in this study approached the complex nature of clinical communication teaching in the Hong Kong context differently. The findings illustrate the need to teach clinical communication both specifically for a discipline as well as generically. This is particularly important in the intensive care unit, where clinicians from different departments frequently cooperate. This study also highlights how communication strategies, non-verbal social cues, and the understanding of clinical communication in the Hong Kong Chinese context operate differently from those in the West, because of differences in sociocultural factors such as family dynamics and hierarchical social structures. We recommend a dynamic teaching approach that uses role-playing tasks, scenario-based exercises, and similar activities to help medical students establish well-rounded clinical communication skills in preparation for their future clinical practice.

Interprofessional education day 2019 - a qualitative participant evaluation

OBJECTIVE

Interprofessional education (IPE) is when two or more students from different professions learn with, from, and about each other to improve collaboration and quality of healthcare. In October 2019, a first interprofessional education (IPE) day was held in the canton of Zurich with the aim of teaching interprofessional skills to participating students.

METHODOLOGY

The IPE day was developed by an interprofessional team of students. After a short introduction, the roles and tasks of the professional groups involved were discussed. This was followed by two case studies with simulation persons and reflection rounds. For the evaluation of the day, 15 semi-structured interviews with students and lecturers were conducted and qualitatively evaluated by means of thematic analysis.

RESULTS

The students and lecturers had a very positive experience of the IPE day. Especially the participation of medical and pharmacy students, the practical case studies with simulation persons and the informal exchange during the breaks were appreciated. There was room for improvement in the development of role models. Through an open attitude and good communication, the students learned to know and appreciate the competencies of the other professional groups. All those interviewed wished for more interprofessional teaching opportunities and the students felt encouraged to apply what they had learned in their later professional practice.

CONCLUSION

The IPE day could be carried out successfully and the didactic concept worked largely well. The evaluation provided subjective evidence that the students were able to improve the interprofessional competencies of teamwork, communication, openness, appreciation and reflectiveness. In the future, the IPE day should be anchored in the curricula.

Getting real in interprofessional clinical placements: patient-centeredness in student teams' collaborative learning

Collaboration between healthcare providers helps tackle the increasing complexity of healthcare. When learning teamwork, interprofessional students are expected to work patient-centered; recognizing the patient's expertise and partnering with them. Research on interprofessional education (IPE) for undergraduates has illuminated learning outcomes, organization of learning activities, change in attitudes, etc. But, we know little about the interaction between patients and interprofessional student teams. This study aimed to explore how interprofessional student teams and patients interact in interprofessional clinical placements. With a focused ethnographic approach, participant observation and qualitative interviews were conducted in two contexts; a physical and an online arrangement. Central ideas in Goffman's dramaturgy constituted a theoretical lens. A reflexive thematic analysis generated three themes: (1) Preparing safe and comfortable encounters with patients, (2) Including and excluding the patient in the encounter, and (3) Adjusting to the patient's situation. We identified students' intentions of patient-centeredness when preparing encounters, but patients did not always feel included and listened to in encounters. After encountering patients, student teams adjusted their teamwork, by changing the team composition or the planned clinical interventions to better meet the patients' needs. Notably, team-based patient encounters led to a different view of the patient, their health issues, and how to collaborate. Our findings can inform educators of the importance of addressing patient-centered care in interprofessional learning arrangements. Today, clinical interprofessional placements may not exploit the potential for learning about patient-centeredness. A thematization of this, e.g., in supervision in future clinical placements can ensure an enhanced focus on this in interprofessional teamwork.

Characterizing Interprofessional Collaboration and Referral to Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Programs

Background

In 2017, the American College of Physicians (ACP) designated Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), an eight-week group program, as first-line non-pharmacological treatment for chronic low back pain. However, interprofessional collaboration between mindfulness instructors and Primary Care Providers (PCP) remains largely unknown.

Objective

We developed a survey to assess communication between mindfulness instructors and PCPs, identify predictors of referral to MBSR, and determine areas where interventions could increase patient access to MBSR.

Methods

The 25-question survey was sent via email to PCPs at the Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, PA, the Piedmont Health Services Family Medicine Section, Chapel Hill, NC, the Boston Medical Center General Internal Medicine and Family Medicine Sections, Boston, MA, and the UMass Memorial Medical Center Family Medicine Section, Worcester, MA. We used descriptive statistics and logistic regression to analyze the data.

Results

Among 118 eligible respondents, 85 (72.0%) were female PCPs, mean age was approximately 41.5±10.1, and the majority (65.2%) had been in medical practice ≤10 years. Of these PCPs, 83 (70.1%) reported familiarity with MBSR (95% CI: 62.1, 78.5), and 49 (59.0%) of them referred patients at least yearly. Of those who referred, 8 (16.3%) reported collaboration with mindfulness instructors. PCPs who were quite a bit or very much familiar with MBSR had 5.10 (1.10, 22.50) times the odds (P=.03), and those who were 50 years or younger had 3.30 times the odds (P=.04) of referring patients to MBSR. Frequency of PCPs' personal practice of mindfulness was not significantly associated with referrals (P=.30).

Conclusion

This is the first study to assess interprofessional collaboration between mindfulness instructors and PCPs. Suggestions for a potential integrative health care model are included; further studies on methods to augment communication and education are warranted to improve the referral process and ultimately increase accessibility and utilization of mindfulness-based programs.

A tool for incorporating interprofessional perspectives into dental students decision‐making: A 2‐year follow‐up on this learning outcome

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions

What characterize high and low achieving teams in Interprofessional education: A self-determination theory perspective

OBJECTIVES

Calls to promote team-based interprofessional collaborative practice in managing patients with complex health problems are ubiquitous. However, the literature remains silent on what characterises successful teams in interprofessional education (IPE) and on profiling successful teams. To help conceptualise successful teams, this study investigated the differences in attitudes and achievement between high- and low-performing teams in an online asynchronous and synchronous IPE programme, and the role of autonomous motivation in determining team membership.

METHODS

Using extreme case sampling involving health and social care students, we identified ten high-performing teams and seven low-performing teams based on their team composite scores on three interprofessional collaborative outcomes: team effectiveness, goal achievement, and scores on the readiness assurance test. Each team had five to seven members of diverse backgrounds. Independent t-tests were performed to identify differences in interprofessional collaborative outcomes, namely teamwork and collaboration, patient-centredness, diversity and ethics, community-centeredness, and interprofessional biases for the affective domain and application exercise for the cognitive domain. We employed logistic regression in which autonomous motivation was used to predict group membership.

RESULTS

High-performing teams were characterised as those whose members endorsed or valued "teamwork and collaboration" in IPE simulations. Compared with the low-performing groups, they better recognised and endorsed diversity and ethics, patient-centeredness, and community-centeredness. Membership to high- and low-performing teams was linked to autonomous motivation.

CONCLUSIONS

High-performing teams have higher favourable valuing of important interprofessional collaborative competencies, and membership to which is predicted by autonomous motivation. The results suggest the need to pay special attention to struggling teams to facilitate desirable collaborative competencies, especially in terms of members' motivation. Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications are discussed.

Ten years of interfaculty pain curriculum at the University of Toronto: impact on student learning

Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text.

The University of Toronto Interfaculty Pain Curriculum has significantly improved students' pain knowledge and ability to develop interprofessional care plans over the period 2009 to 2019.

Introduction:

Delivery of interprofessional pain education for prelicensure healthcare professionals is strongly recommended to advance a workforce ready for collaborative practice and to improve the quality and outcomes of pain care.

Objectives:

We report a 10-year (2009–2019) longitudinal evaluation of a 20-hour undergraduate Interfaculty Pain Curriculum (IPC) delivered to students in the Faculties of Dentistry, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Medicine (also including the Departments of Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Physician Assistant) at the University of Toronto, Canada. The IPC follows a constructivist approach to facilitate interactive and multifaceted learning.

Methods:

Evaluation methods based on the Kirkpatrick model were used to appraise changes in participating students' pain knowledge and beliefs and their ability to collaboratively develop an interprofessional pain management plan.

Results:

A total of 10,693 students participated over the 10-year study period. The mean annual attendance was 972 students and participation to the program increased significantly over the years. Overall, the IPC was effective in improving students' mean pain knowledge and beliefs scores; however, the mean knowledge score gains were negatively correlated with time, likely related to increased uniprofessional pain education. Although an increasing trend in mean interprofessional pain management plan scores was observed, the scores were not significantly correlated with time.

Conclusions:

The interactive and multifaceted IPC is consistently effective in improving knowledge and beliefs and interprofessional pain management care plan development among participating student cohorts. Future inquiry is required to better understand the mechanisms behind student learning in interprofessional pain education to enhance pain curriculum development and delivery.

Utilizing an interprofessional case conference series to teach care transitions in pharmacy and nursing curriculum

INTRODUCTION

Safe and effective care transitions require interprofessional collaboration, but there is limited literature on interprofessional strategies to teach care transitions. The objective was to evaluate student pharmacist and nurse readiness for change towards interprofessional collaborative practice during care transitions.

METHODS

Interprofessional teams were instructed to collaborate and provide care for their patient throughout multiple healthcare transitions. Students were asked to complete the Interprofessional Socialization and Valuing Scale (ISVS) 9A/9B, the nine-item set version, prior to implementation of the case conference series and after the activity debrief.

RESULTS

There was an increase across six items from the ISVS scale for pharmacy students and eight of nine for nursing students. There were significant changes in two of nine items for the pharmacy groups and three of nine in the nursing group.

CONCLUSIONS

An interprofessional case conference series demonstrated a significant increase in student pharmacist and student nurse awareness of the importance of working within a team during care transitions, as well as an appreciation towards their role within the interprofessional team.

Interprofessional learning about medication safety

BACKGROUND

Safe medication management requires collaboration between health professionals.

APPROACH

A mixed academic and clinician team co-designed and co-facilitated a 2-h interprofessional medication safety workshop, covering medication history taking, perioperative medication management, discharge planning, incident review and dosing and administration calculations. Three workshop sessions were delivered across three sites during September 2019 at a large metropolitan healthcare network. Senior nursing, medical and pharmacy students were invited to participate in the workshops and evaluation.

EVALUATION

We evaluated satisfaction, learning experience and perceived clinical application for medical, pharmacy and nursing students. Surveys were conducted immediately after each workshop and at 4 weeks. Quantitative data was analysed descriptively and qualitative data analysed using thematic analysis. Forty-five students participated in the evaluative component of the workshops. Mean student response scores demonstrated a high level of satisfaction with the workshop's relevance and utility to their learning. Students expressed strong agreement that the workshop promoted communication across professions for medication safety. Analysis of the qualitative data identified seven key themes, with consistently positive responses provided in each: interactions within the interprofessional team; recognising the importance of teams; learning the process of medication use; acknowledging and working with difference; role playing; thinking patient safety; and authenticity.

IMPLICATIONS

A 2-h interprofessional workshop about medication safety provided positive learning experiences with high satisfaction to medical, nursing and pharmacy students, and had strong perceived applicability to their future clinical practice.

Intraprofessional workplace learning in postgraduate medical education: a scoping review

BACKGROUND

Residents need to be trained across the boundaries of their own specialty to prepare them for collaborative practice. Intraprofessional learning (i.e. between individuals of different disciplines within the same profession) has received little attention in the postgraduate medical education literature, in contrast to the extensive literature on interprofessional learning between individuals of different professions. To address this gap, we performed a scoping review to investigate what and how residents learn from workplace-related intraprofessional activities, and what factors influence learning.

METHODS

The PRISMA guidelines were used to conduct a scoping review of empirical studies on intraprofessional workplace learning in postgraduate medical education published between 1 January 2000 to 16 April 2020 in Pubmed, Embase, PsycINFO, ERIC and Web of Science. This study applied 'best fit' framework-based synthesis to map the existing evidence, using the presage-process-product (3P) model developed by Tynjälä (2013).

RESULTS

Four thousand three hundred thirty records were screened, and 37 articles were included. This review identified influencing (presage) factors that derived from the sociocultural environment, learner and learning context. Studies described that complexity of care can both facilitate and hinder learning. Furthermore, intraprofessional learning is threatened by professional stereotyping and negative perceptions, and awareness of learning opportunities and explicit reflection are critical in intraprofessional workplace learning. Studies described a range of informal and formal intraprofessional activities (process) under the headings of collaboration in clinical practice, rotations or placements, formal educational sessions and simulated workplace training. In general, learners responded well and their attitudes and perceptions improved, learners reported increased knowledge and skills and positive behavioural changes (product). Learning outcomes were reported in the domains of patient-centred care, collaborative attitudes and respect, mutual knowledge and understanding, collaborative decision making, communication, leadership, teamwork and reflexivity.

CONCLUSIONS

This review gives insight into the high learning potential of intraprofessional activities. Many of the included studies relied on self-reported perceptions of change, therefore, future research should focus on generating more robust evidence including objectively examined outcome measures. This review offers a comprehensive overview of the factors that influence intraprofessional workplace learning in postgraduate medical education. Finally, we provide recommendations for enhancing intraprofessional learning in clinical practice.

SIESTA: a quick interprofessional learning activity fostering collaboration and communication between paediatric nursing trainees and medical students

BACKGROUND

Interprofessional education has emerged as a key concept in education of health professionals over the last 20 years. Positive effects of interprofessional education have been shown, but it has proved to be more time-consuming than traditional teaching methods. We therefore developed a 30-minute interprofessional learning activity, using peer-teaching methods. We were interested in effects on and ways of interprofessional learning, including conditions and resources that make it successful despite limited time.

METHODS

Speed InterprofESsional Peer Teaching PaediAtric (SIESTA) was developed in the context of an interprofessional training ward. 20 paediatric nursing trainees and 20 medical students were enrolled in the study. Two students from each profession participated in a total of four SIESTA sessions each, supervised by registered paediatric nurses and paediatricians. We used a mixed-methods approach of quantitative and qualitative data (questionnaires, semi-guided focus group interviews) to evaluate self-perceived interprofessional competencies, interprofessional learning gains and ways of interprofessional learning.

RESULTS

Questionnaires were obtained from all participants (n = 40) and n = 26 took part in the group interviews. Participants from both professions reported an increase in self-perceived understanding of interprofessional roles and tasks. Communication and cooperation emerged as important aspects. The workplace-based nature of SIESTA promoted interprofessional learning, while peer teaching fostered a safe learning environment. Regarding time constraints participants suggested thorough preparation and structuring by facilitators as a solution.

CONCLUSIONS

Our short interprofessional peer teaching activity showed promising results. Participants reported enhanced interprofessional competencies and provided suggestions for successful learning in limited time. Further studies should include an objective assessment of the interprofessional learning progress. The SIESTA concept can be easily adapted to other medical fields, providing interprofessional learning opportunities for many more health care professionals to come.

Patterns of Psychologists' Interprofessional Collaboration Across Clinical Practice Settings

Healthcare increasingly emphasizes collaborative treatment by multidisciplinary teams. This is the first research focusing on psychologists' participation in team-based care, the mix of professionals with whom psychologists collaborate, and how these collaborations vary across practice settings. Data are from 1607 respondents participating in the American Psychological Association Center for Workforce Studies' 2015 on-line Survey of Psychology Health Service Providers. Practice settings differed markedly in systemic organizational support for interprofessional collaboration and in psychologists' participation in collaborative activities. Psychologists in individual private practice reported least support for and least occurrence of interprofessional collaboration. Psychologists' collaboration with non-behavioral health professionals, such as non-psychiatrist physicians and nurses, was more frequent in general hospitals and VA medical centers. Across settings, greater contact with another health profession was generally associated with psychologists being more confident about working with that profession. However, for work with psychiatrists, that association was attenuated. A collaborative practice model is presented for psychotherapy patients also treated by physicians or other professionals who manage a patient's psychotropic medication.

Exploring healthcare students' interprofessional teamwork in primary care simulation scenarios: collaboration to create a shared treatment plan

BACKGROUND

Primary care providers assume responsibility for patients with increasingly complex problems requiring interprofessional collaboration. Introducing interprofessional education in healthcare curricula prepares healthcare students for this reality. Solving simulation scenarios as an educational strategy is promoted to support interprofessional education in health care, and is mostly used in acute clinical situations. This paper aims to explore how healthcare students' actions influence interprofessional collaboration and treatment plan identification when they solve common, sub-acute patient scenarios in primary care situations.

METHODS

Interaction analysis of video recordings from the simulation scenarios was performed with a focus on the students' joint actions; specifically how these actions unfold and how productive the students were in terms of developing treatment plans.

RESULTS

We found variation in the groups' interactions, the paths they followed, and the quality of their knowledge output in their shared treatment plan. The groups with the capacity to collaborate and engage in sharing information, and explain and elaborate on concepts, were more successful in developing comprehensive treatment plans. Furthermore, these groups managed the duality of defining and solving the immediate problem and collaboratively preparing for future care.

CONCLUSIONS

Analysis of the activities in our scenarios showed the students' potential to practice interprofessional collaboration. Our study illustrates that simulation of sub-acute scenarios in primary care is an underexplored but suitable arena to train communication and teamwork in complex situations. The simulation scenarios are also feasible for use on-site in an educational facility or in practice with minimal equipment and resources.

Using Latent Class Analysis to Understand Social Worker Roles in Integrated Health Care

Purpose: Social work (SW) is a profession that fulfills important roles on integrated health teams, yet there remains a lack of clarity on SW's functions. The current study sought to identify typologies of SW's roles on integrated care teams using latent class analysis (LCA).Method: An electronic survey was developed, piloted, and administered to Masters level SW students and practitioners in integrated health care settings (N = 395) regarding weekly use of interventions. LCA was conducted to estimate latent sub-groups of respondents.Results: Respondents reported an average of 14.6 (SD = 4.7) interventions. Five classes of SW roles were identified and varied by setting and focus. One class (13%) completed a hybrid function providing behavioral health and social care interventions.Conclusions: Classes of SW roles on teams may reflect varying models of integrated care. A flexible SW on the team may adapt to patient and clinic needs, but increases the opportunity for role confusion.

Development of a questionnaire to assess student behavioral confidence to undertake interprofessional education activities

Measurement of the impact of interprofessional education (IPE) is the golden chalice educationalists chase. We undertook the development of a scale to measure IPE Academic Behavioral Confidence (IPE-ABC) in allied health, nursing, and social work pre-registration students. This work formed part of the evaluation of a large IPE framework embedded across two Scottish universities. General ABC has been shown to influence student perceptions of study experiences and it is thus reasonable to postulate that ABC could influence student perceptions of IPE. This research developed a questionnaire to ascertain health and social care students' confidence to engage in IPE, utilizing a mixed method approach. Fifteen different professional groups of pre-registration students (n = 565) participated in the assessment of the 38 item questionnaire. Exploratory factor analysis identified three factors: 1/interprofessional teamwork, 2/behaviors underpinning collaboration, and 3/interprofessional communication collectively accounting for 38.2% of the variance. Internal consistency of the overall scale (Cronbach's α = .93) was very good with subscales demonstrating very good internal consistency, 1 (α = .89), or respectable consistency 2 (α = .78) and 3 (α = .79). We conclude the IPE-ABC questionnaire could be utilized to enhance and assess the success of IPE related activities.

Facilitating interprofessional identity development in healthcare students through dedicated interprofessional placements

There is a growing body of research evidencing the benefits of dedicated interprofessional placements in preparing healthcare students for interprofessional practice. However, little is known about if and how students develop their interprofessional identity during interprofessional placements. This study addresses this knowledge gap by exploring final-year students' interprofessional identity development during dedicated interprofessional placement(s). Thirty-eight students from five health professions were interviewed and data analyzed inductively to identify themes. Participants also drew images representing their perceptions of interprofessional identity and its relationship to professional identity as part of the data collection. The themes showed participants progressed from conceptualizing interprofessional identity as a requirement of the placement at the start of the placement, toward internalizing an interprofessional identity by the end of their placement. Context influences interprofessional identity salience. A commitment from healthcare professionals to model interprofessional practice, combined with explicitly facilitating interprofessional identity development, is recommended to facilitate continued interprofessional identity development in different contexts post placement.

A mixed-method longitudinal study of an interprofessional education course

The purpose of this mixed-method longitudinal study was to understand how health professional students' perceptions of their professional flexibility, role interdependence, and reflection on their process of working together change over time as a result of participating in an interprofessional education course. Data were collected from students enrolled in an interprofessional service-learning course each year from Fall 2014 to 2018 via online surveys at four assessment points and through qualitative reflection papers that served as course assignments. The 14-week course consisted of both didactic instruction and an experiential component whereby students conducted a service-learning activity in interprofessional teams. Quantitative findings demonstrate that students experienced a significant quadratic growth trajectory in reflection on process and a significant linear growth trajectory in professional flexibility. Students reported experiencing non-significant changes in role interdependence. Qualitative data, however, suggest student learning across all three domains. This study has implications for interprofessional educational initiatives aimed at promoting students' interprofessional competencies.

Arrogant or caring? Influence of transactive communication in interprofessional learning on knowledge gains and stereotype changes

Objective: In interprofessional peer tutoring, medical students and physiotherapy trainees teach and practice examination techniques and work out profession-specific similarities and differences. In small interprofessional groups, we investigated the influence of transactive communication - alternately referring to and building on the statements made by the dialogue partner in the process of conveying information - on knowledge gains and changes in stereotypes of the other profession. Methods: A total of 132 medical students and 48 physiotherapy trainees divided into 24 small interprofessional groups indicated the extent of their stereotypes of the other profession before and after the practice session, as well as their perceived increase in knowledge. They evaluated the group work and the perceived intensity of transactive communication. We used regression analyses to test the hypotheses. Results: The intensity of transactive communication in the physiotherapy trainees was positively related to knowledge gains in the medical students. However, this did not apply to the knowledge gains in physiotherapy trainees. With regard to stereotype changes, the intensity of one's own transactive communication unexpectedly turned out to be a significant, albeit weak, influencing factor: The more intensive one's own transactive communication was, the more negative the stereotypes of the other profession became. Conclusion: Transactive communication in interprofessional groups can improve the exchange of knowledge in peer tutoring and bring about changes in stereotypes. Measures to improve transactive communication, e.g. training sessions or specific communication exercises, could help to improve the effectiveness of interprofessional learning.

Students' perceptions of interprofessional collaboration on the care of diabetes: A qualitative study

Interprofessional education can promote healthcare professionals' competence to work in interprofessional collaboration, which is essential for the quality and safety of care. An interprofessional approach is particularly important in complex, chronic diseases like diabetes. This qualitative study evaluated changes in medical and nursing students' perceptions of interprofessional collaboration, induced by a novel interprofessional education course on diabetes care with practical elements. Data from focus-group interviews of 30 students before and after the course were analyzed by using inductive and deductive content analysis. The students' perceptions were illustrated as Elements of Collaborative Care (e.g. Quality of professional care relationship) and Elements of Interprofessional Collaboration (e.g. Importance of communication and Valuation of collaboration). The post-course interviews added one subcategory (Need of resources) to the pre-course perceptions, and there was improvement in ten areas of self-perceived competence in performing or understanding interprofessional collaboration on diabetes care. The course improved the students' self-perceived competence and confidence in interprofessional collaboration on the care of patients with diabetes, and their understanding of interprofessional collaboration changed towards a more patient-centred and holistic perspective. The findings support further implementation of IPE with practical elements in future health professionals' education.

Interprofessional Education: Current State in Psychology Training

Healthcare reform has led to the consideration of interprofessional team-based, collaborative care as a way to provide comprehensive, high-quality care to patients and families. Interprofessional education is the mechanism by which the next generation health professional workforce is preparing for the future of health care-team-based, collaborative care. This literature review explored the extent and content of published studies documenting Interprofessional Education (IPE) activities with psychology trainees across learner level. A systematic review following PRISMA guidelines was conducted of studies describing IPE involving psychology learners. Electronic databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsychINFO, and EMBASE) were searched for the following terms: inter/multi-professional education/practice, inter/multidisciplinary education/practice, and psychology/psychologists. Thirty-seven articles were identified that included psychology in clinical outcome studies or other reviews of interprofessional education initiatives. The review addresses the nature of current IPE learning activities, the impact of IPE activities on participating trainees, opportunities for, and challenges of, involving psychology trainees in IPE, and future directions for research. This review illuminates the relative paucity of the literature about IPE in psychology training. Given the trend toward increasing team-based collaborative care, the limited inclusion of psychology in the IPE literature is concerning. The next generation of health professional trainees is learning about, from, and with each other with the objective of building collaboration and teamwork. Given the few articles documenting psychology trainees' involvement in IPE, future health professionals quite possibly will have limited understanding of, and contact with, psychologists. Our findings are a call to action for greater psychology involvement in IPE.

Perception of interprofessional education and educational needs of students in South Korea: A comparative study

Due to the recent emphasis on the importance of interprofessional education (IPE) in healthcare fields, interest in IPE introduction is increasing in South Korea. The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in perceptions of medical, nursing, and pharmacy students regarding IPE. Also, the study aimed at identifying the priority rankings of educational needs by analyzing the differences between students’ perceptions of the importance level and the present level for each interprofessional competency. A cross-sectional study was carried out using a survey. A total of 1,500 questionnaires were distributed, of which 1,084 were returned (response rate, 72.3%). The participants were 559 medical, 393 nursing, and 96 pharmacy students. The questionnaire comprised items on the students’ perception of IPE and their interprofessional competency. The questionnaire comprised 12 items on their IPE perception and 9 items on their interprofessional competency. These items were developed by examining the content validity by medical educational specialists and conducting a factor analysis for verification. Data were analyzed using the t-test and ANOVA, and Borich’s formula was used to calculate the rank of educational needs.89.6% did not know the meaning of IPE. The difference in students’ perception of IPE was not significant by grade. Further, the level of IPE perception was higher for female than male students and for students who knew the meaning of IPE than those who did not. The nursing students’ perception of the importance, preference, and effectiveness of IPE was the highest, whereas medical students’ perception was the lowest. All students perceived their present level to be lower than the importance level for each interprofessional competency. Interprofessional communication skills (6.791) were highly necessary for students. These results will serve as baseline information for developing IPE programs in South Korea.

Interprofessional education: tips for design and implementation

Interprofessional education (IPE) is a critical approach for preparing students to enter the health workforce, where teamwork and collaboration are important competencies. IPE has been promoted by a number of international health organisations, as part of a redesign of healthcare systems to promote interprofessional teamwork, to enhance the quality of patient care, and improve health outcomes. In response, universities are beginning to create and sustain authentic and inclusive IPE activities, with which students can engage. A growing number of health professionals are expected to support and facilitate interprofessional student groups. Designing interprofessional learning activities, and facilitating interprofessional groups of students requires an additional layer of skills compared with uniprofessional student groups. This article outlines the key points for planning and practicing interprofessional facilitation within the classroom and clinical setting.

Stimulating Students' Interprofessional Teamwork Skills Through Community-Based Education: A Mixed Methods Evaluation

Background

Interprofessional education (IPE) is suggested as a good means to prepare future healthcare professionals for collaborative work in interprofessional teams enabling them to solve complex health problems. Previous studies have advocated experiential IPE, including community-based IPE (CBIPE). This study aims to evaluate a CBIPE programme by exploring the students’ perception toward CBIPE design and toward groups’ teamwork.

Methods

To identify students’ perceptions of teamwork, the Interprofessional Teamwork Evaluation questionnaire was administered to 254 students of medical, nursing and midwifery programme. Three uni-professional focus group (FG) discussions were conducted to analyse the students’ perception of the design of community-based education and underlying reasons for teamwork.

Results

FGs reported three aspects that influence skills development in collaborative practice among students that shed light on why midwifery and nursing students held less positive perceptions of communication and mutual support: 1) communication gap due to lack of confidence, 2) contrasting ways of thinking affect communication in decision-making, and 3) the leadership culture in the health services.

Conclusion

A CBIPE programme was successfully implemented at Universitas Islam Sultan Agung. It demonstrated that students in the health professions can develop skills in collaborative practice despite having some problems with communication and mutual support.

Interprofessional communication (IPC) for medical students: a scoping review

BACKGROUND

Effective Interprofessional Communication (IPC) between healthcare professionals enhances teamwork and improves patient care. Yet IPC training remains poorly structured in medical schools. To address this gap, a scoping review is proposed to study current IPC training approaches in medical schools.

METHODS

Krishna's Systematic Evidence Based Approach (SEBA) was used to guide a scoping review of IPC training for medical students published between 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2018 in PubMed, ScienceDirect, JSTOR, Google Scholar, ERIC, Embase, Scopus and PsycINFO. The data accrued was independently analysed using thematic and content analysis to enhance the reproducibility and transparency of this SEBA guided review.

RESULTS

17,809 titles and abstracts were found, 250 full-text articles were reviewed and 73 full text articles were included. Directed Content analysis revealed 4 categories corresponding to the levels of the Miller's Pyramid whilst thematic analysis revealed 5 themes including the indications, stages of trainings and evaluations, content, challenges and outcomes of IPC training. Many longitudinal programs were designed around the levels of Miller's Pyramid.

CONCLUSION

IPC training is a stage-wise, competency-based learning process that pivots on a learner-centric spiralled curriculum. Progress from one stage to the next requires attainment of the particular competencies within each stage of the training process. Whilst further studies into the dynamics of IPC interactions, assessment methods and structuring of these programs are required, we forward an evidenced based framework to guide design of future IPC programs.

Education for sustainable healthcare: A transdisciplinary approach to transversal environmental threats

Global Environmental Changes are dynamic and complex, crossing disciplines, sectors, regions, and populations and shaping the health of current and future generations. GECs present an unprecedented challenge demanding a response of equal scale and complexity involving unfettered collaboration beyond disciplines with implications for global health. At this critical point, health professions' education should have moved on from building consensus about the relevance of education for sustainable healthcare (ESH) to active implementation. In this commentary, we discuss why transdisciplinary problem-solving and interprofessional education should be considered in education for sustainable healthcare. We review types of collaborative educational practices, outline opportunities, challenges, and resources to enable implementation.