Interprofessional Collaboration Skills Research Articles

How Do Health Worker Qualities Affect Collaborative Skills? A Qualitative Study in Rural Indonesia Primary Health Services

Health problems are complicated, even more so in remote areas. Collaboration has emerged as a solution to this complex problem. Some specific health worker qualities have been identified as related to the success of the collaboration, but the transformation of these qualities into collaborative behaviour remains unclear. An epistemological model of collaborative skills development was built and it was confirmed by the experiences of health workers. A research model based on interpretivism epistemology was also developed. The model was then generated using a qualitative methodology with a coding framework using deductive and inductive approaches based on the literature review and the interviews. Ten previously assigned health workers were interviewed to list their personal qualities and functions to overcome collaboration problems. The specific personal qualities of health workers determine each type of collaboration. The personality of health workers does not affect their collaborative skills with the community but is directly related to interprofessional collaboration skills.

Interprofessional collaboration skills and motivation one year after an interprofessional educational intervention for undergraduate medical and nursing students

BackgroundThe increasingly complex patient care in the twenty-first century is delivered by interprofessional health care teams. Interprofessional collaboration can be taught during interprofessional education. However, whether a long-term change in collaborative competencies can be achieved by interprofessional education has not been studied sufficiently. Our research questions were: How does motivation for interprofessional collaboration and interprofessional collaborative skills change up to one year after an interprofessional educational intervention? How are they related to each other?MethodsDuring a one-year period, undergraduate medical and nursing students attended four interprofessional (intervention) or uniprofessional (control group) education sessions. Self-determination Theory was used as the theoretical framework. Autonomous and controlled motivation scores for interprofessional collaboration were calculated using the Academic Self-Regulation Questionnaire, before (T1), directly after (T2) and one year post-intervention (T3). At T3, the students also filled out the Interprofessional Collaborative Competencies Attainment Survey (ICCAS), which measured the perceived attainment of collaborative competencies by a retrospective pre-test/post-test design. We used linear mixed effects models to analyse the motivation scores and linear regression for the relation between motivation and competence.ResultsIn the interprofessional group, autonomous motivation scores of the participants were significantly lower at T2 vs. T1. Controlled motivation scores were significantly higher at T3 vs. T1. Controlled motivation scores for T2 were significantly higher in the uniprofessional group than in the interprofessional group. Perceived competence was related to higher autonomous motivation scores. At T3 the interprofessional collaborative competencies seemed to have grown more among students in the interprofessional group.ConclusionsThe perceived growth in interprofessional collaboration competence lasted at least up to one year after the intervention, and was measurable with the ICCAS. The growth was significantly more in the IPE students than in the UPE students. The few differences found in motivation scores for interprofessional collaboration were probably caused by an imbalance of nursing versus medical students over the different time points. This finding indicates that classroom based IPE can contribute to interprofessional collaboration skills of nursing and medical students at least up to one year after an intervention.

“Everyone who wants to can practice on me”– a qualitative study of patients’ view on health profession students’ learning in an interprofessional clinical placement

IntroductionHealthcare services face significant challenges due to the aging population, increasing complexity of health issues, and a global shortage of health professionals. Health professions education needs to adapt and develop with healthcare services’ needs. Interprofessional education and patient partnership are two trends that are increasingly being reinforced. Health professions students worldwide are expected to acquire competencies in interprofessional collaboration through undergraduate and postgraduate studies. Developing interprofessional collaborative skills in clinical placements is crucial. This study aims to explore two patients’ meetings with an interprofessional student team and better understand how the patient can participate actively in the students´ learning processes.MethodsThis is a small single-case study. Two patients participated. Data was generated through participant observation and qualitative interviews. A practical iterative framework for qualitative data analysis inspired the analysis.ResultsThe patients observed and reflected on the interprofessional students’ learning process and felt responsible for contributing to their learning. The patients contributed to students’ learning by making themselves available for practicing and sometimes giving feedback. They considered it a win-win situation to be involved in the interprofessional learning activity as they perceived being taken seriously by the students when addressing their problems and experienced positive outcomes for their situation, such as better physical functioning and adjustments to assistive devices. Patients emphasized the importance of learning collaboration between health professionals and how this could contribute to them feeling safer as patients.DiscussionThis study highlights the importance of including patients in interprofessional students’ learning processes. Patients’ active participation in interprofessional clinical placements can empower them, improve their self-efficacy, and potentially shift the power dynamic between patients and healthcare professionals. The study emphasizes the importance of the patient perspective in future research on interprofessional education in clinical settings. The study also highlights the need for clinical supervisors to facilitate patient involvement in interprofessional clinical placements and reinforce patients’ feedback for the student team.Concluding commentsOverall, this study contributes to the growing body of research on interprofessional education and patient partnership and emphasizes the importance of including patients in health professions education.

Interprofessional Education in Child Protection for Preservice Health and Allied Health Professionals: A Scoping Review.

Health and allied health professionals are uniquely positioned to collaborate in prevention, early intervention and responses to child maltreatment. Effective collaboration requires comprehensive interprofessional education (IPE), and inadequate collaboration across sectors and professions continually contributes to poor outcomes for children. Little is known about what interprofessional preparation health and allied health professionals receive before initial qualification (preservice) that equips them for interprofessional collaboration and provision of culturally safe care in child protection. This scoping review aimed to identify what is known internationally about IPE in child protection for preservice health and allied health professionals. Thirteen manuscripts reporting 12 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the synthesis. Key characteristics of the educational interventions are presented, including target disciplines, core content and their learning objectives and activities. Findings demonstrated primarily low-quality methodologies and educational interventions that had not been replicated beyond their initial context. Many educational interventions did not provide comprehensive content covering the spectrum of prevention, early intervention and responses for all types of child maltreatment, and/or did not clearly indicate how IPE was achieved. Key challenges to delivering comprehensive interprofessional child protection include lack of institutional support and competing priorities across disciplines who must meet requirements of separate regulatory bodies. Consequently, there is a need for further development and robust evaluation of educational interventions to explore how interprofessional collaborative skills for child protection can be developed and delivered in preservice health and allied health professional education.

Utilizing interprofessional education to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion concepts related to gender affirming care

Interprofessional education (IPE) is on the rise in healthcare fields for several reasons. IPE teaches the collaborative skills necessary for healthcare students to succeed in an increasingly diverse workforce. IPE also creates space for healthcare organizations to develop diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) objectives within curriculum and clinical practice. IPE's focus on diversity is important because recent research indicates a lag in DEI initiatives in healthcare. To better integrate DEI objectives into healthcare curricula, faculty from an OTD and MAT program developed an interprofessional assignment that could be implemented across multiple programs. The assignment was designed to improve DEI and IPE competence in OT and AT education.An OTD and a MAT course were chosen to pilot the IPE assignment. These courses were selected for two reasons: curricular content and logistic feasibility. A virtual synchronous and asynchronous format was determined as the best structure for the assignment. Students were asked to complete assigned readings and review a video about culturally sensitive topics, meet as an interprofessional group to discuss a healthcare encounter between a clinical staff and a transgender individual, and participate in an intraprofessional discussion board activity.The primary student learning outcomes for this assignment were threefold 1) Demonstrate use of interprofessional collaborative skills such as communication and roles responsibilities 2) Analyze how interprofessional collaborative skills might be utilized to care for diverse populations and 3) Integrate the use of DEI constructs within discussions of planned care. A rubric was used to assess students in each of these areas. Additionally, a thematic analysis was generated to understand how students’ use of interprofessional education skills and knowledge could enhance the care of diverse populations.Both groups of students in the pilot scored well. The average overall grade for occupational students was 37.25/40 (93 %) and the average overall grade for the athletic training students was 36/40 (90 %). The assignment analysis identified three improvements in student understanding, specifically enhanced quality of care, decreased knowledge gaps, and greater ability to check biases and accountability.

Interprofessional Collaboration: How Social Workers, Psychologists, and Teachers Collaborate to Address Student Wellbeing

ABSTRACT This micro-level study investigated interprofessional collaboration between social workers, psychologists, and teachers who work together to support young people in secondary schools. Drawing on focus group data obtained from 42 key wellbeing staff across four Catholic secondary schools in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, the results indicate that interprofessional collaboration between social workers, psychologists, and teachers strengthens student wellbeing policies, programs, and processes, and has the potential to provide holistic and focused attention on student wellbeing. However, the study also found that there is a tendency for social workers and psychologists to engage in intensive interventions at the expense of targeted and universal interventions. Effective interprofessional collaboration can expand the knowledge, resources, and support available to students, in turn supporting students’ health and wellbeing. The findings contribute to how school-based social workers and psychologists can use their expert skills and knowledge to support student wellbeing policies and programs. IMPLICATIONS School-based social workers and psychologists are well equipped to utilise their expert skills in interprofessional collaboration with teachers to support student wellbeing in secondary schools. School-based interprofessional collaboration is effective when located within school structures that are clear about roles and lines of referral, and when wellbeing staff are committed to interprofessional collaboration and partnerships.

Defining Physician-Nurse Efforts toward Collaboration as Perceived by Medical Students.

Collaboration between physicians and nurses is essential to healthcare delivery and is associated with high-quality patient care, greater patient satisfaction, and better health outcomes. Hence, it is imperative that doctors and nurses have a particular set of interprofessional collaboration skills. This descriptive cross-sectional study assessed how medical students in the pre-clinical and clinical years perceived attitudes toward collaboration between physicians and nurses in a hospital setting. The Jefferson Scale of Attitude toward Physician-nurse Collaboration (JSAPNC) was reverse-translated into Arabic for the current study. The results showed a total JSAPNC mean score of 46.55, lower than other medical students in other universities. In general, the results of the study showed no significant difference in the total JSAPNC score among medical students when analyzed according to age, clinical exposure, and year level, except in the two factors of JSAPNC: shared education and teamwork (p = 0.038) and caring as opposed to curing (p = 0.043). The findings of this study suggest the necessity of integrating interprofessional education (IPE) across the medical school curriculum because, as future physicians, medical students would be well equipped to treat their patients in partnership with their nursing colleagues.

Teaching Interprofessional Collaboration Skills With Medical and Social Work Students Through Simulation

ABSTRACT An interprofessional pulmonary standardized patient simulation case was used for medical and social work students to work together using motivational interviewing. Following the case, 68 medical students and 20 social work students responded to open-ended questions eliciting reflection on the encounter. Using thematic text analysis, results indicated students learned how different professions approached healthcare issues and communicated to patients, the importance of collaboration, and the need to be patient-centered with an integrated care approach. This case met all four Interprofessional Education Collaborative Competencies. Our results suggest interprofessional standardized patient simulations can assist students in addressing substance use using a team-based approach. With barriers such as time, instructor availability, and limited funding for interprofessional activities, meaningful high-yield activities are essential.

Teaching Collaborative Practices: A Scoping Review of Preservice Interprofessional Education With a Focus on Preservice Speech-Language Pathologists and Preservice Teachers of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students

Purpose: Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and teachers of students who are deaf and hard of hearing (TODs) often work with the same students in a school setting to support their linguistic and educational needs. Previous research has extensively documented the importance of interprofessional practice and how educator and professional preparation programs have modified the curriculum to become more focused on collaboration. What is currently missing from the literature, however, is a discussion of the evidence-based methods used to teach preservice SLPs and TODs how to effectively collaborate together in support of Deaf and hard of hearing students. Method: We reviewed the literature related to interprofessional education (IPE) for preservice SLPs and preservice TODs across eight databases with a focus on the methods used to teach and develop interprofessional collaboration skills. Results: We located six relevant articles focused on IPE for preservice SLPs and TODs. Due to the limited number of studies, we expanded our search criteria to also include relevant studies that focused on IPE strategies from related fields. Conclusions: This review integrates research about best practices for educating preservice professionals in effective collaboration strategies to make evidence-based recommendations on implementing effective collaboration-focused IPE for preservice SLPs and TODs. Recommendations include joint classroom experiences, explicit instruction in critical skills and competencies for successful collaboration, modeling collaboration through co-teaching, and explicit instruction and practice in conflict management and perspective-taking.

In-Person or Online? Exploring Student Pharmacists’ Perceived Change in Interprofessional Skills between Two Delivery Formats

The COVID-19 pandemic drastically changed how education is delivered. Many academic programs quickly transformed their curriculum to online distance learning. This rapid transition may have compromised the rigor and fidelity of these activities. The Interprofessional Standardized Patient Experience (ISPE) is an interprofessional education activity (IPE) involving a team of students from six different healthcare professions that switched to an online delivery format. This manuscript compares pharmacy students' perceived change in interprofessional skills between the two formats. Following the ISPE, second-year pharmacy students completed the revised Interprofessional Collaborative Competencies Attainment Survey (ICCAS-R). The ICCAS-R assesses the change in interprofessional collaboration-related competencies in healthcare students before and after IPE training using a retrospective pre-post approach. For each ICCAS-R item and each delivery format (44 in-person and 51 online), paired Student's t-test on pre- and post-ISPE scores, and Cohen's d were calculated. Every item of the ICCAS-R was significant (p < 0.001), regardless of delivery format. Nearly all ICCAS-R items had a large effect size, and the remaining items had a medium effect size. The amount of change pre- and post-ISPE for each ICCAS-R item was calculated. Student's t-test was used to compare the magnitude of change in interprofessional skills between the two delivery formats. Only one difference was noted between the two delivery formats-ICCAS-R item 16, which measured actively listening to interprofessional team members (p = 0.0321). When switching to an online format, the high-fidelity dimension of the ISPE was retained. The ISPE is an effective IPE activity at increasing pharmacy students' self-perceived interprofessional collaboration skills regardless of delivery format. Even though students reported the ISPE increased their ability to actively listen to the perspectives of interprofessional team members in both formats, the magnitude of the benefit was more profound in the in-person group.

An Innovation Sprint to Promote Problem-solving and Interprofessional Skills Among Pharmacy and Public Health Students

Objective. Innovation sprints are a novel pedagogy where small groups of students find creative solutions to problems. The purpose of this study was to extend our understanding of innovation sprint pedagogical design by investigating the impact of an innovation sprint on Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) students' and Master of Public Health (MPH) students' interprofessional collaboration and problem-solving skills. We hypothesized that the innovation sprint would increase student self-efficacy and that interprofessional collaborative behaviors would be demonstrated by individuals on a team.Methods. MPH and third-year PharmD students were assigned to teams and participated in a required two-hour innovation sprint. Faculty observed student teams and evaluated their interprofessional collaboration skills using a rubric modeled after the Modified McMaster-Ottawa Scale. Students completed a postprogram survey assessing their interprofessional collaborative behaviors and attitudes toward the innovation sprint.Results. Of the 133 students participating in the innovation sprint, 127 completed the postprogram survey (response rate=95%). Faculty determined that 123 students (92%) met the interprofessional collaboration competencies. The mean interprofessional collaborative competencies attainment survey scores increased for both PharmD and MPH students. Qualitative analyses highlighted themes of interprofessional collaboration and problem-solving skills that students valued. Overall, students enjoyed working with each other and engaging in creative problem-solving.Conclusion. An interprofessional innovation sprint involving PharmD and MPH students demonstrated a positive impact on student self-assessed interprofessional collaboration and problem-solving skills. Further, faculty observed a high rate of interprofessional behaviors within student teams. Based on these findings, an innovation sprint may be an effective pedagogical tool to enhance students' skills in these areas.

Evaluating the effects of simulated interprofessional teaching on the development of clinical core competence in nursing students: a mixed methods study

BackgroundWhile single-method studies have reported on the effectiveness of simulated interprofessional teaching, our understanding of its full effects remains incomplete. Teaching design also provides no relevant theoretical guidance, which reduces the scientific quality and rigor of research. The purpose of this work was to study the effects of the simulated interprofessional education (SIPE) teaching model based on the 3P theory on the course of "Clinical Critical Thinking Training" through a convergent mixed method, and to provide the basis for future teaching design.MethodsA convergent mixed-method design was used, which consisted of a survey and a semi-structured interview. Data collection took place from September 2021 to July 2022. A cluster sampling method was used to select 60 full-time nursing students from a school in China, and randomly divide them into a control group of 36 and an experimental group of 24. According to the principle of voluntary participation, 6 students majoring in clinical medicine and 6 students majoring in pharmacy were recruited to join the experimental group to form an interprofessional team. The students studied “Clinical Critical Thinking Training” together, in which the control group used traditional simulation teaching and the experimental group used SIPE. The CCTDI (California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory) and AITCS-II Student (Assessment of Interprofessional Team Collaboration in Student Learning Scale) were used for quantitative evaluation before and after the course, and descriptive statistics and Mann–Whitney U test were used to compare the critical thinking and interprofessional collaboration skills of the two groups of students. Semi-structured interviews were used for qualitative evaluation. Thematic analysis was used to understand student development on the basis of inter-professional core competencies and learning experience.ResultsThe students’ interprofessional cooperation abilities and critical thinking scores improved compared with the beginning of the course, but the scores of the experimental group were significantly higher than the control group (p < 0.05). Three themes emerged regarding simulated interprofessional teaching: clarifying team positioning, improving team efficiency, and optimizing the learning experience.ConclusionSIPE can build students' critical thinking, teamwork, and interprofessional core competencies, which makes it a useful teaching design.

An Interprofessional Escape Room Experience to Improve Knowledge and Collaboration Among Health Professions Students

Objective. The purpose of this study was to extend our understanding of escape room pedagogical design by investigating the impact of escape room puzzle content on changes in students' immediate recall knowledge and demonstration of interprofessional skills during a subsequent simulation.Methods. Students from nursing, pharmacy, and physical therapy programs were randomized to complete an escape room themed around acute management of sepsis (intervention group; n=133) or general acute care (control group; n=129) prior to participating in a simulated patient discharge case conference. Students completed a knowledge assessment before the escape room, immediately after the escape room, and immediately after the simulation. Additionally, students completed the Interprofessional Socialization and Valuing Scale (ISVS-21) before and after the experience along with a post-program evaluation. Faculty rated student achievement of interprofessional learning objectives during the simulation using a standardized rubric.Results. Students in the intervention group had higher scores on the knowledge test administered immediately after the escape room. All participants' ISVS-21 scores increased from before to after the activity. Interprofessional learning objectives, as evaluated by faculty, were met by 248 (94.7%) students.Conclusion. Participating in an interprofessional escape room activity with specific puzzle content improved students' immediate recall knowledge. In both groups, self-assessed interprofessional socialization improved, and a high percentage of students achieved the interprofessional learning objectives in a subsequent simulation. Escape rooms can be an innovative pedagogical tool that can positively impact immediate recall knowledge and interprofessional collaborative skills of health professions students.

Emergency Department Immersion: A Clinical Elective

Many scholars agree that clinical experiences are the best way to develop deep knowledge of nursing practice. Even though clinical hours are planned in the curriculum, students enjoy additional opportunities to prepare for graduation and career opportunities. This article explains how an elective ED course helped to enhance nursing students’ clinical judgment, interprofessional collaboration skills, and technical nursing skills during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Interprofessional Training for Discharge Planning: Effects of Self-Efficacy in Nursing and Medical Students

Interprofessional Training for Discharge Planning: Effects of Self-Efficacy in Nursing and Medical Students Abstract. Concordant and methodical briefing about a patient's disposition for discharge from hospital within the interprofessional ward round can facilitate a timely discharge. However, interprofessional ward rounds require not only professional skills but also knowledge of interprofessional cooperation between all the occupational groups involved. The question arose whether students of the various professions could learn the necessary competencies during their studies. To this end, a training course on interprofessional discharge planning was developed for nursing and medical students. The training includes four phases consisting of flipped classroom and interprofessional skills training. After each phase, a questionnaire was distributed to assess the self-efficacy of participating nursing and medical students regarding their interprofessional collaboration skills. The results showed that self-efficacy increased steadily with increasing study duration from phase 1 to 4. The study also shows that despite the differences between nursing and medical school curricula, students' self-efficacy regarding interprofessional collaboration skills increased during the IAVI training, which strongly suggests that they benefited from the training.

Collaboration in interprofessional teams: A needs assessment of factors that impact new resident physicians

ABSTRACT Many resident physicians struggle with effective interprofessional collaboration (IPC), but characterization of their challenges is not well known. This study examines gaps in IPC skills for graduating medical students entering residency. A needs assessment was completed to evaluate factors that impact resident physicians’ ability to effectively collaborate with other healthcare professionals. This study included online surveys of 123 recent medical school graduates, 21 semi-structured interviews of residency program directors, and 3 focus groups of healthcare professionals who interacted with residents. Survey results were analyzed for means and narratives from surveys, interviews, and focus groups were analyzed for themes. We found that graduates felt they did not have a strong understanding of other providers’ roles and did not feel well prepared to handle conflict with other providers or navigate interprofessional team dynamics. Themes emerging from narrative data generally aligned with the Interprofessional Education Collaborative core competencies including understanding team roles, communicating effectively, and working effectively in a team, but these interviews also elucidated an additional theme, overcoming system barriers. Data from this work can inform curricula in preparation for the transition to residency. The authors also offer an educational framework for learning effective IPC as a new team member.

Improved Self-Assessed Collaboration Through Interprofessional Education: Midwifery Students and Obstetrics and Gynecology Residents Learning Together.

Research suggests that interprofessional education, bringing learners together to learn about, with, and from each other, improves health professions education and can improve health outcomes. Little research has measured outcomes of interprofessional education between midwifery students and obstetrics and gynecology residents. The purpose of this study was to examine self-assessed interprofessional and collaborative competencies among midwifery students and obstetrics and gynecology residents. Baseline self-assessed interprofessional and collaborative competencies were compared with follow-up measurements to evaluate learners' experiences over an 11-month study period. Participants were midwifery students and obstetrics and gynecology residents who experienced interprofessional learning activities. The Interprofessional Education Collaborative Competency Self-Assessment Survey (IPEC Survey) and Interprofessional Collaborative Competency Attainment Survey (ICCAS) were used. Of 256 learners at 4 demonstration sites, 223 (87%) completed the baseline, and 121 of 237 eligible learners (51%) completed the follow-up surveys. The IPEC Survey total score (t = 2.31, P = .02) and interaction subscale (t = 2.85, P = .005) and ICCAS score (t = 4.04, P = .001) increased for midwifery students but not obstetrics and gynecology residents on the IPEC Survey (t = 0.32, P = .75) and ICCAS (t = -0.05, P = .96) measures. Midwifery students (87%) and residents (57%) reported improved overall ability to collaborate. Learners responding to 3 open-ended questions valued team-based experiences, including learning how to communicate with each other; appreciated learning each other's education and scope of practice; and recommended skills development including uncommon clinical events, case discussions, and direct clinical care. This study advanced knowledge about interprofessional education between midwifery students and obstetrics and gynecology residents. Midwifery students improved in self-assessed interprofessional and collaborative competencies. Most learners reported better interprofessional collaboration skills and were positive about future interprofessional learning. This evaluation approach is available for other programs implementing or extending interprofessional education.

Building Better Teams: Impact of Education And Coaching Intervention on Interprofessional Collaboration Between Teachers and Occupational Therapists in Schools

ABSTRACT Most American school-based occupational therapy (SBOT) practitioners do not report utilizing research-supported collaborative models of therapy (Gallagher & Richards, 2020). The purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental study was to determine whether a 4-month-long training and coaching program could improve interprofessional collaboration skills, measured by pre- and post-self-scoring. Training and coaching content built upon theoretical foundations of Universal Design for Learning, where learning is intentionally designed to maximize access for all learners, and Distributed Cognition, where each group member contributes unique knowledge to the team. Interprofessional collaboration was operationalized into three discrete skills: communication, role perception, and conflict resolution. Research questions investigated whether training and coaching strategies could improve communication, role perception, and conflict resolution, measured by improved posttest scores. Sample consisted of 27 pairs of school-based occupational therapists and classroom teachers from central New Jersey. For data analysis, sum for each item pre and post was calculated then classified by variable. Paired-sample t-test determined whether sums showed significant differences. For communication, role perception, and conflict resolution, the paired sample t-test analysis revealed significance at .000. Participants’ self-reported scores showed statistically significant increase on all three variables. Overall, this study provided a precedent for potential effectiveness of longer-term training/coaching sequences to improve interprofessional collaboration for occupational therapists and teachers in school-based settings.

Black Nurse Scholars' Experiences in an Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Fellowship

Postdoctoral fellowship programs play an essential role in developing future leaders in nursing by providing opportunities for interprofessional education, training, and collaboration. Nurse leaders must carefully consider the climate and design of such programs, paying particular attention to the ability to support the career journeys of more doctorally-prepared nurses from diverse backgrounds. This article describes a self-study that considered the unique, yet collective, lived experiences of 11 Black, doctorally-prepared, nurses who completed (or are completing) the same interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellowship. We describe the study methods, results, discussion, and limitations. Five themes across three phases of the nurse scholars’ educational journeys describe lived experiences in spaces not traditionally designed to support minoritized women, including insight into the limits and benefits of these programs specific to Black nurse scholars. Finally, we suggest implications for nursing to inform interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellowship programs to strengthen Black nurse scholars as emerging leaders with interprofessional collaboration skills to improve healthcare services provided to diverse patient populations.

Developing future translational scientists through authentic learning and assessments

The Interprofessional Research Design course uses authentic learning pedagogy to bring together students from different education tracks (PhD, MD, MD/PhD training) to engage in interprofessional collaborative skills toward completion of a capstone project, a National Health Institutes (NIH) R21-style grant proposal. The course, underpinned by principles of team science, begins with a leadership training workshop to introduce students to effective leadership and teamwork strategies for interprofessional team environments. We used several assessments during the course to monitor leadership and team dynamics. We analyzed three assessments (leadership self-efficacy testing, iterative team contracts and reflective essays) to better understand students’ learning experiences. Self-efficacy testing was administered before leadership training (pre) and at the end of the course (post-then); scores were analyzed using a repeated repeated measures ANOVA. Iterative team contracts were analyzed qualitatively using both deductive and descriptive methods. Reflective essays were analyzed using a general inductive approach. Nine teams of 32 students (23 MD; 9 PhD) participated in the class over 2017-2018. Self-efficacy testing using post-then timing to control for response shift showed a statistically significant increase in self-efficacy across all measures. Deductive qualitative analysis of iterative contracting showed evidence of team processes which support successful team performance; and descriptive analysis mapped productive behaviors. In reflective essays, seven of the nine teams collectively described their experiences positively; e.g., themes included empathizing with group members, sophisticated communication and collaborative workflow/styles. For negative experiences, themes were related to basic communication, poor integration and the theory-practice gap of leadership training. These findings demonstrate the usefulness of an authentic learning pedagogy focused on teaching the practice of team science.