The Effectiveness of an Introductory Interprofessional Course in Building Readiness for Collaboration in the Health Professions

INTRODUCTION Many health professions’ accrediting agencies require interprofessional training for students, yet impact of faculty attitudes toward interprofessional education (IPE) is unclear. The objectives of this study were to compare faculty and student attitudes toward working in interprofessional healthcare teams before and after taking an interprofessional course (IPC) and to assess and compare attitudes of faculty directly involved with IPE to those who are not. METHODS The Attitudes toward Healthcare Teams Scale (ATHCTS) was selected to test the objectives. Fulltime faculty at the College of Health Professions (CHP) were invited to complete the ATHCTS assessment. In addition, all first-year health professions students’ pre- and post-IPC assessment scores were collected during the mandatory introductory IPC. RESULTS Responses were collected from 428 students and 68 faculty members for response rates of 97% and 47% respectively. Students’ reported more positive attitudes after the IPC class ended (M = 4.19) compared to before the class began (M = 3.95) p < .001. Findings also showed that students reported slightly more positive attitudes towards interprofessional teams compared to faculty post IPC (p = .02). CONCLUSION Findings suggest faculty attitudes are positive whether directly involved in IPE or not. Institutions implementing IPE may gain insight for planning and recruitment by assessing the climate among faculty to have the greatest impact on their students.

Future health professionals are often educated with other students of their same discipline when, in practice, they will be working with professionals from other backgrounds to provide care for the patient. Complex issues of ethical concern are common to health professionals due to modern technology. This paper describes the evolution of an interprofessional bioethics course that had a unique combination of students and faculty. Innovative teaching methods were utilized and continuously refined based on student evaluations. Students commonly cited the interprofessional interactions as the most enjoyable part of the learning experience. Establishing a patient-centered focus and an appreciation of the contributions of other disciplines, students learned how to apply ethical decision-making to real cases. At the conclusion of the course, students reported improved attitudes toward interprofessional teamwork. This course format and teaching techniques may be applied at other universities looking for linkages to encourage consistent interprofessional collaboration across disciplines.

BackgroundMedical students, practitioners and other health professionals are commonly unprepared to address the many complex issues that emerge while conducting research in the Global South. As a response to identified deficiencies in global health education, a hybrid online/face-to-face multi-institutional credit course was developed based on the equity-centered principles advanced by the Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research (CCGHR), namely Authentic partnering, Inclusion, Shared benefits, Commitment to the future, Responsiveness to causes of inequities, and Humility. This study aimed to analyze the extent to which the course was effective in fortifying attitudes consistent with the CCGHR principles; identify successes and challenges; and assess how a course such as this can fill an identified gap.MethodsThis interprofessional course was offered to 25 graduate and postgraduate students in various health professions and public health. Faculty were drawn from medicine, public health, nursing and social sciences from four universities in Western Canada. A pre-post retrospective survey, key informant interviews and participant observation were used to gather data for this study.ResultsFindings showed that student attitudes regarding global health research and practice significantly evolved towards views consistent with the principles articulated. The multiple instructors and hybrid course format created both opportunities and challenges; the interprofessional nature of the cohort was considered a strong asset, as was the fact that many students came from the Global South. Some students suggested that the course could be further strengthened by concretely partnering with institutions in the Global South rather than offered solely to learners registered in universities in the Global North.ConclusionsWhile weaknesses were identified, results support the conclusion that a course focused on the CCGHR principles could be useful in preparing the next generation of global health researchers and practitioners to mitigate historical limitations in this field. Longitudinal follow-up is warranted to provide more definitive conclusions.

Introduction Conflicts related to hierarchy are a known barrier to interprofessional (IP) practice among healthcare teams. While these barriers between physicians and nurses are well established in the literature, studies on power dynamics between allied health professions and physicians are lacking. The aim of this study was to explore the prevalence of role claiming and identify negative perceptions towards occupational therapy (OT), physical therapy (PT), and physician assistant (PA) professions among first-semester OT, PT, and PA students as well as 4th-year medical (MD) students. Methods In an IRB-approved study, MD, OT, PT, and PA students were asked to complete a role knowledge survey consisting of 33 questions before and after OT, PT, and PA students completed an IP anatomy course where MD students served as near-peer mentors. The survey asked students to identify which profession (OT, PT, or PA) was best suited to aid the patient in a clinical vignette and included three open-ended questions asking for descriptions of these professions' roles. The rates at which OT, PT, and PA students claimed a role as their own professions' were assessed using Kruskal-Wallis and Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests. Perceptions of each profession were examined through thematic analysis of free responses. Results The average rate of roles students in OT, PT, and PA programs identified as their own exceeded the expected rate, 33.3%, and ranged from 38.1% (OT) to 44.2% (PT). PT students demonstrated a significant decrease, 3.9%, in role claiming following the IP course (p=.003), while OT and PA rates changed marginally. Qualitative themes included perceived limitations to each profession's scope of practice and language with belittling connotations. MD, PA, and PT students utilized verbs insinuating less power to describe OT roles (i.e. help, aid, assist) compared to verbs with authoritative connotations to describe PA and PT roles (i.e. perform, enhance, strengthen). OT and PT students emphasized an exaggerated power disparity between PAs and MDs, portraying PAs in a more subordinate light than MD students did. Inaccurate limitations to scopes of practice of OTs, PTs, and PAs were frequently found in the descriptions from students outside that profession. Preliminary comparisons of pre- and post-free responses indicate fewer inaccuracies regarding limitations to each profession's scope of practice following the IP course. Conclusions Even at the onset of their professional programs, students exhibited role claiming and negative, often inaccurate, perceptions about the roles of other health professions. The power conflict demonstrated by both quantitative and qualitative measures can impede IP collaboration. While this early IP course had a positive influence on role claiming and resolving some misconceptions about scopes of practice, several obstinate hierarchical barriers remained, particularly towards OTs and PAs. Furthermore, the inaccurate and limited views of OT, PT, and PA scopes of practice demonstrated by students outside those professions that persisted have the potential to hinder patient care. Circumventing these obstructive power dynamics is pertinent for improving IP practice between physicians and allied health professionals.

Introduction: In response to demographic changes and the growing complexity of healthcare demands, national and international organizations are requiring greater cooperation among the health professions. Implementation of interprofessional learning programs within study programs in medicine, midwifery, nursing, and therapy is still rare. The first projects are currently underway in Germany. This paper presents the experience gathered by the organizers as interprofessional courses for six study programs were implemented.Project description: As part of the collaborative project “Interprofessional Practice in Health Care” between the Medical School at the Ruhr University in Bochum and the Department for Applied Health Sciences at the Hochschule für Gesundheit, interprofessional curricular units were developed, taught and evaluated with the aim of establishing permanent and joint curricular structures at the two German universities. Imparting communication skills, knowledge of and appreciation for the work performed by the other health professions, as well as having students reflect on their own professional roles and responsibilities, were the focus of four curricular units. Students worked together in small interprofessional groups.Results: A total of 220 students enrolled in occupational therapy, midwifery, speech therapy, medicine, nursing, and physiotherapy participated in small-group seminars. When conducting and implementing the seminars, administrative and methodological challenges became apparent, and this should be taken into consideration in regard to any future development of interprofessional courses. Integration into existing curricula, along with finding time in the various schedules and appropriate classroom space for small groups, were among the challenges faced. For over 86% of the students it was important that students from all six of the degree programs involved participated in the project. A detailed analysis of the content and evaluation will follow.Conclusion: The value of the project’s aim to include as many study programs in the health professions and medicine as possible was confirmed by the participating students. However, accomplishing this requires a substantial amount of organizational effort in terms of scheduling, finding classroom space and integration into existing curricula. Careful attention must be given specifically to the coordination of monoprofessional and interprofessional teaching units.

Introduction: Interprofessional collaboration is of great importance in clinical practice, particularly in the field of emergency medicine. The professions involved in providing emergency care must work hand in hand, and tasks and routines must be coordinated effectively. However, medical and nursing students have only few opportunities to experience interprofessional cooperation during their formal training. Addressing this situation, the Department of Anesthesiology and the Vocational School of Greifswald University Medical School initiated a project to increase patient safety by integrating interprofessional human factor training into the curriculum of both health professions. This manuscript addresses how an interprofessional course module focusing on clinical emergency medicine can be taught with an emphasis on competency and problem-solving. In addition, it was important to identify suitable instruments for systematic quality development and assurance of this teaching and learning format.Project description: The aim of the project, which took place from October 2013 to September 2015, was the development, implementation and evaluation of a simulation-based, interprofessional course module on clinical emergency medicine. Target groups were medical and nursing students. Modern pedagogical models and methods were applied to the design and teaching of the course content. The project was carried out in separate phases: definition, planning, practical implementation, evaluation and documentation. The project was accompanied by systematic quality development. Established guidelines for quality-centered school development were applied to quality development, assurance and evaluation.Results: Over two years, a 16 credit-hour course module was developed and then taught and evaluated during the 2014 and 2015 summer semesters. A total of 120 medical students and 120 nursing students participated in the course module. Eighteen teachers from medicine and nursing were trained as instructors and assisted by 12 student tutors. Regular evaluations focused on different aspects of the project, using instruments for empirical educational research. Excellent ratings given to the course by the attendees indicate a high degree of satisfaction in both participating professions regarding course design and content, as well as the quality of teaching.Discussion: In a position paper, the GMA committee on Interprofessional Education in Health Professions issued recommendations for interprofessional education. The recommendations given for teaching and quality assurance are drawn upon here, and relevant examples from the course concept presented.Conclusion: The design of the course corresponds to the recommendations of the GMA committee on Interprofessional Education in the Health Professions. Based on these, and considering the satisfactory evaluations, both continuation and further development of this interprofessional teaching format are justified.

IntroductionEthics and professionalism in the health professions reflect how health professionals behave during practice, based on their professional values and attitudes. Health professions education institutions have implemented various strategies for teaching ethics and professionalism, including interprofessional education. The aim of the study was to evaluate the perception of undergraduate health professions students about the outcomes of an online interprofessional course in ethics and professionalism as well as their perception of interprofessional education and the importance of ethics and professionalism after taking the course.MethodsThis is a descriptive cross-sectional study that targeted medical, dentistry, and pharmacy students. A researcher-made 31-item questionnaire was used. The questionnaire was tested for face, content, and construct validity. Reliability of the questionnaire was estimated by Cronbach alpha test. Descriptive statistics were used. T-test was performed to compare the results of male and female students and ANOVA was performed to compare the results of medical, dentistry, and pharmacy students. Statistical significance was set at p &amp;lt; 0.05.ResultsFactor analysis of the questionnaire yielded three factors, namely course evaluation, perception of interprofessional education, and importance of ethics and professionalism in health professions education. The study participants expressed positive perceptions of all aspects of the course. They reported positive perceptions of interprofessional education, highlighting its benefits in enhancing understanding, teamwork skills, and respect for other healthcare professionals. The findings reveal some program-related differences in participants’ responses, where medical students showed higher ratings of all aspects of the course, interprofessional education and importance of ethics and professionalism.ConclusionStudents of the three programs showed positive perceptions of the online IPE course on ethics and professionalism as well as the benefits of IPE and the importance of ethics and professionalism. This highlights the effectiveness of the course in addressing such important aspects of health professions education.

Health professionals have an obligation to improve both the health of the individual and the public in a time of scarce resources. The Institute of Medicine (IOM), Healthy People Curriculum Task Force and professional education accreditation standards indicate the need for health care professionals to demonstrate competencies related to community engagement, basic health promotion skills and the ability to work effectively in interprofessional teams. An Interprofessional Course, IPE 413: Developing Care for a Vulnerable Population provides students the opportunity to collaborate to address health needs in cooperation with a community partner. Students work in teams to address the complex health care needs of an individual community member. The one hour elective course is open to students from nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacy, social work, and exercise science. Efforts are underway to explore the possibility of offering this course to medical students. Students are assessed on the knowledge and experience gained through this interprofessional experience using the Team Skills Scale and student reflections. Faculties from each of the disciplines utilize a collaborative model in the instructional design of the course. The content is co-taught and faculty not only role model interprofessional care, but also serve as mentors and resource personnel for the students as they work with their clients. Received: 07/10/2015 Accepted: 08/28/2015 © 2015 Laughlin et al. This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution License, which allows unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. H IP & Team-Based Care for Vulnerable Populations EDUCATIONAL STRATEGY 2(4):eP1087 | 2 Introduction Higher education in the health sciences is under multiple demands to prepare learners for the future of health care with a significant focus on team-based care, also known as interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP). According to the American Hospital Association (AHA, 2015), practicing primary care providers are challenged to meet the current needs of health care populations. The AHA identifies that health care providers need “to practice to reach their potential in a team-based model of care delivery” (AHA, 2015, p. 5). In 2011, the Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice were established as the foundational skills all health care providers need for effective team-based care (Interprofessional Education Collaborative Expert Panel, 2011). Since this time, the accrediting bodies of the health science professions have put in place more stringent curricular requirements for interprofessional education (IPE) in order to prepare the health professions students for practice demands (Zorek & Raehl, 2013). Currently, academic institutions are now charged with implementing interprofessional education in order to prepare health sciences students for team-based care. Academic institutions have used multiple pedagogies to help students attain skills in collaboration and team-based care including simulation, case analysis, and service-learning. Dow, Blue, Konrad, Earnest, and Reeves (2013) identified challenges facing interprofessional education in higher education among the health sciences in regards to attaining the skills described in the Core Competencies (Interprofessional Education Collaborative Expert Panel [IPEC], 2011). One unmet area for IPE is related to health care providers working in underserved areas with vulnerable populations (Dow et al., 2013). Dow and colleagues (2013) report that current IPE has not been adequately preparing health sciences students for the complexities of providing care to patients affected by health disparities due to multiple social factors. According to Dow et al, “a student planning to practice in a resource poor, primary care setting needs specific skills in teamwork, leadership, and follower-ship that bolster collaboration by allowing all health care professionals to practice at the top of their licensed abilities” (Dow et al., 2013, p.353). An appropriate, yet complex pedagogy to prepare students for meeting the needs of vulnerable populations is community-based service learning. Several models regarding this approach to IPE have begun to emerge in the literature as exemplars in meeting the gap identified by Dow et al. (2013). Frequently identified in the literature as a pedagogical approach is the use of free clinics, which involve collaborative faculty participation and student involvement (Moskowitz, Glasco, Johnson, & Wang, 2006; Shrader, Thompson, & Gonsalves, 2010; Wang & Bhakta, 2013; Arndell, Proffitt, Disco, & Clithero, 2014; Farlow, Goodwin & Sevilla, 2015). These types of clinics in underserved communities are one avenue for exposing students to IPE with vulnerable populations. Students report learning how to collaborate and meet community needs in free clinic settings. Educational experiences with underserved populations also allow students the opportunity to learn the importance of overlapping roles and how to collaborate with limited resources to meet patient needs. This article will identify how an interprofessional community-based clinic course for health professions students frame their understanding of IPCP and builds proficiency based on the IPEC Core Competencies.

Aim: Interprofessional teaching and learning is gaining significance in the health professions. At the same time, the development and implementation of such educational courses is demanding. Focusing on factors critical to success, the aim of this paper is to evaluate the experience gathered by eight grant projects in which interprofessional courses were designed. Emphasis is placed on the level of cooperation between the participating educational institutions, course content, the operative implementation of the course units and their permanent integration into curricula.Method: Data was collected in semi-structured, guideline-based interviews with project leaders and team members (n=43). University and vocational students who had attended the evaluated courses were also included in the survey (n=7) as a means to triangulate data. Analysis was carried out based on qualitative content analysis.Results: A participatory, dialogue-centered model of cooperation appears to be most suited for developing and implementing courses. Belonging to the factors critical to success are the time when courses are offered, the conditions for attendance, the different teaching and learning cultures of the professions involved, preparation and deployment of instructors, and the role played by project coordination. Permanently integrating interprofessional units into medical curricula revealed itself to be difficult.Conclusion: While the development and realization of interprofessional courses can be achieved easily enough in projects, curricular integration of the new course units is challenging. In respect to the latter, not only a large amount of staffing resources and time are required, but also the creation of the necessary system-level structures, not just within the educational institutions (organizational development) but also in the frameworks governing the professions.

Background: Interprofessional education of healthcare professionals has been proposed as a strategy to enhance collaborative practice. This study is the first to explore interprofessional education involving pharmaconomist (PH) students. It aimed to identify the impact of an interprofessional course on PH and other health professions (KP) students. Methods: During the course, KP students cooperated in groups to solve a challenge from practice, where they practiced bringing their professional competencies into play. PH students participated by listening to their preliminary ideas and giving them feedback. All students were invited to answer electronic questionnaires, and at a workshop, teachers from both colleges shared their reflections on the results. The workshop was recorded and transcribed verbatim. All data was analysed in Excel and NVivo R1. Results: Five KP students (38%) and 27 PH students (63%) responded. Nine themes were derived, e.g., PH students’ professional confidence was boosted; KP students have underrated the competencies of PH students; it is important to know each other’s strengths and competencies. Conclusion: PH and KP students learned more about their competencies, those of other professions, and how they can complement each other in patient care.

Interprofessional education is expected to promote collaborative practice and should therefore be included in health professionals’ curricula. Reports on interprofessional curricular development and its evaluation are rare. We therefore undertook a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative evaluation of a new, mandatory course on interprofessional collaboration for medical students during their third year of the Bachelor of Medicine study programme. The newly developed and implemented course spans over six weeks and was designed in a hybrid, flipped-classroom format. It incorporates experience- and case-based learning as well as interactions with other health professionals. Each student completes an eLearning and a clinical workshadowing individually before attending the – due to the pandemic – virtual live lectures. To assess quality and usefulness of teaching-learning formats and course structure to learn about interprofessional collaboration and to develop interprofessional competencies and identity, a quantitative and qualitative evaluation was performed with more than 280 medical students and 26 nurse educators from teaching hospitals using online surveys (open & closed-ended format). Data were analyzed descriptively and using content analysis processes. Students appreciated the flipped-classroom concept, the real-world case-based learning scenarios with interprofessional lecturer teams, and the possibility of an experience-based learning opportunity in the clinical setting including interaction with students and professionals from other health professions. Interprofessional identity did not change during the course. Evaluation data showed that the course is a promising approach for teaching-learning interprofessional competencies to medical students. The evaluation revealed three factors that determined the success of this course, namely, a flipped-classroom concept, the individual workshadowing of medical students with another health professional, mainly nurses, and live sessions with interprofessional teaching-learning teams. The course structure and teaching-learning methods showed potential and could serve as a template for interprofessional course development in other institutions and on other course topics.

Introduction: Student participation has shown positive effects on the curriculum development process for a single health profession. This qualitative study explores faculty members’ and students’ perceptions and experiences regarding student participation in interprofessional course development.Methods: Interprofessional courses were developed and implemented by interprofessional teams of faculty members and students. Two focus group discussions were carried out: one with faculty members and one with students.Results: Students contributed to both the process and the results of interprofessional course development in a complementary manner. Student participation was facilitated via motivation for and through work on interprofessional education, a balance between clarity on tasks and students’ autonomy, and a low-hierarchy team atmosphere. Students developed professionally, and faculty members saw them as future ambassadors for interprofessional collaboration.Conclusions: This study provides multiple qualitative evidence for a positive, complementary role of student participation in interprofessional course development. A number of factors were identified that should be nurtured to facilitate this effect. Our findings may stimulate and guide other schools to actively involve students in the development of interprofessional education.

Background: Future health care increasingly requires interprofessional thinking and decision-making which should be taught during medical study and vocational training. Against this backdrop, the Medical Faculty at TU Dresden developed an elective course on “Interprofessional Palliative Medicine” in which medical students and trainees in different health professions have been taught together since the 2017 summer semester. An extensive and simultaneous course evaluation conducted in the 2019 summer semester and 2019/20 winter semester investigated if and how strongly attendees’ perceptions of interprofessional collaboration had changed as a result of the elective course.Method: The course evaluations included quantitative pre- and post-questions on a questionnaire (n=50) covering, among other things, the perception of roles, according to the Role Perception Questionnaire, and qualitative interviews (n=20). The pre- and post-questions were compared using the Wilcoxon test for related samples and the effect sizes were calculated according to Cohen. The qualitative interviews were analyzed for content using a combined deductive-inductive approach.Results: It was seen that the perceptions and attitudes of each professional group were mutually influenced as a result of the elective course. The quantitative analysis showed the largest effects regarding gains in understanding the roles and competencies of one’s own and the other professions (d=0.975) and a reciprocal feeling of “being dependent on each other” (d=0.845). In the interviews, it was seen that medical students developed a greater appreciation for the subject matter and tasks associated with nursing. A strengthening of self-perception was primarily found in the trainees.Conclusion: The elective course on “Interprofessional Palliative Medicine” contributed to the changes in attitude not only with an increased self-awareness of one’s own professional group, but also a greater understanding of the roles and expertise of the other health professions. The results speak for the benefit of expanding the interprofessional courses offered.

Since ethical issues in the contemporary delivery of health care involve doctors, nurses, technicians, and members of other health professions, the authors consider whether members of diverse health care occupations might benefit from studying ethics in a single classroom. While interprofessional courses may be better at teaching the ethics of the relationships between and among the various health professions, single-professional courses may be better at teaching the ethics of relationships between particular kinds of professionals and patients. An ethics instructor's professional discipline affects his/her credibility with the students, and the course readings may not always be relevant to the actual work of a given discipline. With these challenges in mind, the authors suggest that the boundaries of ethics education in the health professions be reconceived to accommodate the professional mission of a specific discipline as well as the interdependence and collaboration that marks high quality health care.

Interprofessional collaboration: changing the future.