The Use of an Experiential Educational Activity to Promote Interprofessional Education in Physical and Occupational Therapist Students

Abstract

In many healthcare settings, interprofessional collaborative practice is expected of healthcare professionals to facilitate optimal patient outcomes. To prepare healthcare professionals to provide this collaborative practice, institutions of higher education are infusing interprofessional education activities into their healthcare curricula. While interprofessional education activities have been demonstrated to be beneficial for students, the creation and implementation of these types of activities by higher education faculty can be challenging. Factors such as logistics, curricular differences, and already busy course schedules can sway faculty from developing interprofessional experiences for their students. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and implementation of an interprofessional education activity involving physical and occupational therapist students that was added to an existing physical therapist student experiential learning activity. Activity outcomes and recommendations will be shared in anticipation that other healthcare faculty will be inspired to initiate communication and collaboration to create their own unique IPE experiences.