The Positive Impact of Occupational Therapy Involvement in Interprofessional Education

Abstract

It is essential that members of a successful interprofessional healthcare delivery team understand the crucial roles and responsibilities of each profession. Participation in interprofessional education and practice has been suggested to improve understanding of the roles of each discipline on an allied health team, however, often understanding of the occupational therapy scope of practice is confusing to other allied health professionals. This study presents the outcomes of a community-based interprofessional practice experience with occupational therapy, physical therapy, and physician assistant students on perceived understanding of each profession’s roles and responsibilities. In addition, this study introduces the Primary Care Training and Enhancement (PCTE) Interprofessional Actual and Perceived Knowledge Questionnaire to assess actual understanding of health professions’ roles and responsibilities. The inclusion of occupational therapy students in the interprofessional practice experience resulted in a significant increase in physical therapy and physician assistant students’ perceived understanding of occupational therapy’s scope of practice (an increase of 11.0% and 23.4%, respectively, p<0.05). Although not significant, findings from the original questionnaire demonstrated an improved understanding of occupational therapy compared to the other professions.

Keywords

• interprofessional practice
• interprofessional education
• allied health professions roles and responsibilities