Interprofessional Healthcare Themes derived through Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

One of the four primary learning competencies of Interprofessional Education (IPE) is Interprofessional (IP) Communication. Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science (RFUMS) partnered with the University of New England (UNE) to offer an IP Team Immersion (IPTI) telehealth simulation (tSIM). IPTI aims to provide opportunities for IP teams of students to increase understanding of each other's roles, responsibilities, demonstrate teamwork principles and skills, and apply integrated communication skills for team-based, patient-centered practice in a simulated setting. We hypothesized that IPTI provides an opportunity for students to learn communication skills in an interprofessional team setting and that CDA can be used to identify incidences of verbal and non-verbal communication.In this experience, groups of students formed IP teams and worked together to plan their approach to a standardized patient (SP) case. Nine student teams across two universities and ten health professions participated in the virtual sessions and simulations. At the end of the tSIM activities, IP student teams were given 45 minutes to debrief and discuss their performance.CDA can be used to understand how communication among a team of IP healthcare students contributes to student learning in a simulated clinical environment. This study used CDA to analyze communication during the debrief sessions and the main themes identified were Verbal Communication, Non-Verbal Communication, Working Relationships, and Telehealth.Our results indicated that IPTI provided an opportunity for students working in a team to learn communication skills used within an IP team.