An Introductory Interprofessional Exercise for Healthcare Students

Abstract

Objective. To evaluate healthcare students' perceptions of an introductory interprofessional exercise and their team dynamics. Design. A workshop was developed, combining second-year medical students, fourth-year nursing students, and third-year pharmacy students to work as an interdisciplinary team. The teams alternated between working together on patient cases focusing on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma, and on the evaluation of standardized pneumonia patients. Teams were given the patients' health information and no other instructions. A faculty member and the standardized patient evaluated the students using a teamwork global rating scale. Assessment. Student survey results showed a positive response to interprofessional teamwork. The faculty members and standardized patients reported that the students worked as a cohesive unit and demonstrated good team communication.Conclusions. This introductory interprofessional experience had a positive impact on the students' understanding of collaboration and teamwork. This type of experience will help students foster future collaborations as healthcare providers.

Designing and Evaluating an Interprofessional Experiential Course Series Involving Medical and Pharmacy Students

“…[7][8][9][10][11]17,20,23 Shrader and colleagues demonstrated that student perceptions, collected with an attitudinal survey instrument, were not a significant predictor of clinical outcome scores, whereas teamwork scores, rated by trained observers using a checklist, were a significant predictor of clinical outcome scores. 11 Our standardized objective behavior assessment followed a similar model and involved trained observers evaluating student team behaviors using a checklist.…”

“…6 The following themes are notable regarding studies reporting positive outcomes: IPE interventions result in changes of learners' perceptions and values, [7][8][9] and IPE interventions enhance teamwork and collaborative behavior. 10, 11 Shrader and colleagues described multiple IPE activities delivered longitudinally within a required clinical assessment course that significantly improved students' perceptions of interprofessional collaboration. 9 MacDonnell and colleagues demonstrated that after a 1-day IPE workshop, students from three different health professions not only recognized the value IPE in their training, but also demonstrated effective teamwork in taking care of patients.…”

“…9 MacDonnell and colleagues demonstrated that after a 1-day IPE workshop, students from three different health professions not only recognized the value IPE in their training, but also demonstrated effective teamwork in taking care of patients. 10 The purpose of this report is to describe the design and evaluation of an innovative interprofessional experiential 6-semester course series involving first-year and second-year pharmacy and medical students. The curricular goal of creating this interprofessional experiential course series was to better prepare students to build effective collaborative health care teams.…”

A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Perceptions of Interprofessional Education in Medical Students

“…The first, a workshop held early in second year, is previously described in detail elsewhere (8). Briefly, students in this workshop participate in introductory team building and patient case exercises.…”

Report of the 2014-2015 Professional Affairs Standing Committee: Producing Practice-Ready Pharmacy Graduates in an Era of Value-Based Health Care

“…112,113 The Iowa Center for Pharmaceutical Care partnered college faculty and resources with a state professional organization to advance patient care service provision in a variety of practice settings with the stipulation the sites would later agree to become experiential sites for the involved colleges. 114 Other examples of experiential education partnerships have had provided a positive influence on developing IPPE perceptions 115 and initiatives 116,117,118,119,120 as well as public health and patient outcomes. 121 When exploring partnerships for alignment with practice partners and the community, it is imperative that colleges/ schools of pharmacy work on programs and initiatives that will benefit everyone involved -it is often best to approach a potential partner with questions such as "What do you need?"…”