Background: Interprofessional collaborative care has become a preferred model for patient-centered health care, and effective participation in interprofessional teams has emerged as a core expectation of all providers. In response to this change in the healthcare landscape, Leadership Legacy was designed as an extracurricular enrichment opportunity to complement the formal curriculum by enhancing participants' collaboration, leadership, and teamwork skills. This cohort-based interprofessional leadership development program for health profession learners was built on a foundation of leadership theory, specifically emotional intelligence, and the interprofessional education collaborative competencies. Methods: A longitudinal cohort study with a pre- and post-test mixed method design was used to determine changes in students' attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge that resulted from participation in Leadership Legacy. Results: Results of the 2-year study indicate that participation in the program produced learners who reported statistically significant gains in knowledge of educational requirements and scope of practice of other healthcare professionals, satisfaction measures of the experience, interprofessional competencies, and attitudes toward healthcare team and team understanding measures. Conclusions: Together the elements of Leadership Legacy, when viewed through the lens of leadership theory, provide an opportunity whereby interprofessional learners engage in activities designed to increase emotional intelligence and stimulate social change. These same activities also enable future practitioners to develop skills directly related to critical leadership competencies such as conflict management and resolution, effective communication, feedback agility, and project management.
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