Interprofessional Student Learning in an Early Intervention Caregiver Group

Through a collaboration with our community's Early Intervention (EI) Program, the MGH Institute of Health Professions (IHP) created a new weekly parent-toddler group which incorporated the disciplines of physical therapy (PT), occupational therapy (OT), and speech-language pathology (SLP). Graduate students collaborated with EI teachers in planning and implementing group and caregiver activities, including sharing developmental information with caregivers. Students had the opportunity to observe the group with a PT/OT/SLP faculty member and engage in discussion around interprofessional and discipline-specific topics, as well as general developmental and caregiver interaction insights. Students from different disciplines worked together to create learning activities for the children in the group focused on individual challenges and needs. Following each group session group, students, EI teachers, and faculty held a debrief session to facilitate students asking questions, providing observations, and planning for future group activities.

The collaboration with the Early Intervention Program stemmed from paucity of caregiver-child group experiences for children 0-3 in the Charlestown area, where the MGH-IHP is located. The IHP offered space to hold the group in its state of the art IMPACT practice center, and provided graduate students to support the EI teachers. In turn, students received training and experience not just in pediatrics, but in the art of working with families in therapeutic and coaching opportunities. This group has continued for several semesters, allowing a range of students to gain interprofessional practice experience.

This academic-community partnership experience will be presented as a model of providing community support while fostering interprofessional collaboration in a graduate student health-care professions institution. Ideas for specific student learning objectives and activities from a variety of healthcare professions will be shared and discussed.

Disclosures:

In accordance with the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education’s Standards for Commercial Support, adopted by the Joint Accreditors for Interprofessional Continuing Education, the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education has a conflict of interest policy that requires that all individuals involved in the development of activity content disclose their relevant financial relationships with commercial interests. All potential conflicts of interest that arise based upon these financial relationships are resolved prior to the educational activity.

Jennifer Mackey, Cathy Leslie, Elise Townsend, Alison Naber, Susan Anderson, Kathrin Eliot, Karen Luce, Kathryn Konrad, Whitney Lucas Molitor, Tracy Cleveland, Sabina Kuperschmidt, Kory Zimney, Chelsea Wesner, Brooke Burk, Megan Mahowald

declare no vested interest in or affiliation with any commercial interest offering financial support for this interprofessional continuing education activity, or any affiliation with a commercial interest whose philosophy could potentially bias their presentation.