Building Toward Working Together: An Interprofessional Education Experience (IPE)
Recent updates to health care education accreditation standards and best practice guidelines suggest that health care practitioner education needs to evolve to provide meaningful interprofessional education (IPE) opportunities for students. As a university, Touro University Nevada took on this challenge using a unique and creative approach, the creation of an accessible carnival for children with developmental disabilities. This IPE experience provided future graduates with the opportunity to serve marginalized children, to lead the way in creating an IPE activity that directly benefits both the students and the community, and to teach one another how to engage in collaborative care.
This study aimed to determine what effect participating in an IPE experiential learning event had on university graduate students' attitudes and behaviors with regard to Interprofessional Collaboration Competencies. A mixed-methods design was utilized for this study. Quantitative data was collected using the Interprofessional Collaborative Competency Attainment Scale (ICCAS) utilizing a one-group pretest-posttest design. Qualitative data was collected using a structured reflective survey after the IPE experiential learning event. A Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was utilized to analyze the impact of participation in the IPE experience on interprofessional communication, collaboration, roles/responsibilities, patient-centered care and conflict management/team functioning. Reflective survey answers were analyzed for recurrent themes/concepts. Preliminary analysis indicates statistical significance in the following areas: effective communication, idea/concern expression without judgement, providing constructive feedback, clear and concise expression/communication, learn with/from/about interprofessional (IP) team members to enhance care, work effectively with IP team members to enhance care, accountability for contribution to the IP team, understand the abilities and contributions of the IP team members, recognize that other's skills and knowledge overlap and complement, use an IP team approach with patient to assess the health situation, use an interprofessional approach with the patient to provide whole-person care, inclusion of patient/family in decision making, actively listen to the perspectives of IP team members, and take into account the ideas of IP team members. Preliminary qualitative analysis revealed themes of collaboration, team building, communication, contextual client exposure, and service to the community.
