A Locally Developed Pilot Writers’ Workshop Encourages Scholarly Dissemination of Interprofessional Education Projects

Abstract

INTRODUCTION The interprofessional education (IPE) community has long recognized that scholarly output related to program/study design, outcomes, and evaluation is needed to strengthen the IPE evidence base. We developed, implemented, and evaluated a university-wide interprofessional writers’ workshop to address this need.METHODS Awardees of the Linking Interprofessional Networks for Collaboration (LINC) Seed Grant Program, which provides financial support for innovative IPE projects at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, participated in a one-month writers’ workshop that included asynchronous online modules and live programming exploring IPE publication opportunities. A qualitative descriptive approach was used to analyze free-text entries from module surveys and transcripts of discussions between workshop participants (n=10) and faculty (n=6) during live programming to identify themes and sentiment. RESULTS Four main themes emerged: workshop design, rationale for participation, making scholarly writing a habit, and current trends in the IPE literature. Barriers to IPE research and barriers to writing for publication had the highest proportion of codes associated with negative sentiment; participating in IPE and lessons learned from workshop participation had the highest proportion of codes associated with positive sentiment. DISCUSSION The inaugural LINC Writers’ Workshop pilot was perceived as a helpful first step for encouraging IPE project teams to publish their designs, findings, and lessons learned in peer-reviewed journals, and for promoting an extended network of collaborators in IPE scholarship. Findings will be used to improve future iterations of the workshop, strengthen IPE project conceptualization and design, and build a community of local authors who can support and hold one another accountable to their publication goals.