A Case-Based Interprofessional Education Forum Improves Students' Perspectives on the Need for Collaboration, Teamwork, and Communication

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Interprofessional education (IPE) focusing on patient centered care is an emerging trend in health care education. With the goal of facilitating interprofessional teamwork and collaboration, an IPE forum was implemented following the keys to success outlined by Buring et al, and the impact of the IPE experience on health science students was examined using the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) and the Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS). Methods The exercise was a single IPE forum in which students representing five health disciplines were divided into interdisciplinary groups of 8–12 students to discuss roles, team goals, and outcomes for a video-based case study. This experience was followed by a faculty panel question and answer period. The entire IPE forum exercise takes approximately 4 hours to complete. Results We investigated the effectiveness of the interprofessional education forum employing a pre-/posttest design. The sample of convenience included 426 students from our University's College of Health and Behavior Sciences from two successive years who participated in a single Interprofessional education (IPE) forum. A paired sample t-test was employed to determine whether significant differences existed between pre- and postRIPLS and IEPS ratings. The results indicate that after the IPE forum was completed all professions demonstrated an increase in scores on the IEPS (p = .000) and RIPLS (p = .000) instruments. Additionally, improvements were seen in the RIPLS subscales and IEPS subscales. Discussion These findings suggest introduction of a single case-based IPE forum into an existing curriculum is an achievable task and can serve as a method to initiate interprofessional education. The results of our study indicate an IPE forum is an effective way to introduce students to other health science professions, improve readiness for inter-professional learning, increase perceptions of cooperation, facilitate teamwork and collaboration, and increase understanding of the need for interprofessional communication.

Keywords

• Interprofessional Education
• Interprofessional Education Collaboration (IPEC)
• IPE
• Case-based Learning