Assessment of continuing interprofessional education: Lessons learned

Abstract

Although interprofessional education (IPE) and continuing interprofessional education (CIPE) are becoming established activities within the education of health professions, assessment of learners continues to be limited. Arguably, this in part is due to a lack of IPE and CIPE within in the clinical workplace. The accountability of interprofessional teams has been driven by quality assurance and patient safety, though sound assessment of these activities has not yet been achieved. The barriers to team assessment in CIPE appear related to access and resources. Simulated team training and assessment are expensive, and because of staffing shortages, learning in clinical practice is often the only way forward, but is obviously not ideal. Despite these difficulties, the principles of assessment should be adhered to in any CIPE program. This article explores key issues related to the assessment of CIPE. It reflects on processes of designing and introducing an IPE activity into an existing university curriculum and focuses on determining the purpose of the assessment and the use of collaborative competencies to help determine assessment. The article also discusses the use of an assessment blueprint to ensure that learners are exposed to the relevant collaborative competencies. In addition, the article discusses the use of multiple assessment methods and the potential of simulation in the assessment of CIPE.