Utilizing an interprofessional book club focused on aging and dying to enhance IPE opportunities for allied health students

Abstract

An interprofessional education book club focused on aging issues was developed for students, faculty, and staff at a public university. The book club was an effort to offer a non-threatening, low-risk activity to assist members in developing skills for working on an interprofessional team. Book clubs offer a format that encourages members from various disciplines to learn about, from, and with each other through discussion in a group setting. A modified Interprofessional Attitudes Scale (IPAS) was used to measure the impact that the book club had on members' attitudes on interprofessional education. Results from two semesters of book clubs showed significant increase in the club members’ perceptions on the importance of shared learning . Information on the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the book club is discussed. The book club utilized fiction books easily obtained through a local book store and the IPAS, available to use with permissions from the creators. Book club questions for discussion were created by the authors and reflected the skills that the students would need in their future allied health professions .