Interprofessional Standardized Patient Exercise (ISPE): The Case of “Paul Harris”

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Effective interprofessional education enhances collaboration among health care professionals by engaging participants in authentic tasks, settings, and roles. Using these guiding principles, this interprofessional standardized patient exercise (ISPE) was created to provide health professional students with a structured learning experience in working as an interdisciplinary health care team. The standardized patient (SP) case of Paul Harris involves multiple complex chronic medical conditions, and was designed to be relevant to many health professions. Methods At the University of California San Francisco, participants were second- and third-year students from five health professional schools: dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and physical therapy. Students worked in interprofessional teams to interview the SP and create an integrated care plan. Faculty facilitators from each school were present to observe the students and lead debriefing sessions. The exercise takes approximately 4 hours. This case would also be relevant to other health professional students, including nutritionists, physician assistants, and social workers. Results In 2009–2010, the ISPE was implemented at the Institution with 101 students participating. We evaluated students' attitudes toward interprofessional team-based care by administering the Attitudes Toward Health Care Teams (ATHCT) validated survey to students pre- and post-ISPE. The survey uses a 6-point Likert-type scale (1 = strongly disagree, 6 = strongly agree). Students' attitudes improved on two of the three subscales of the survey; Team Value (premean = 4.87, SD = .50, postmean = 5.13, SD = .53, p < .001) and Team Efficiency (premean = 4.41, SD = .64, postmean = 4.72, SD = .64, p < .001). Attitudes toward Physicians' Shared Role in interprofessional teams did not change significantly (p = .29). We also surveyed students and faculty about their satisfaction with the ISPE, faculty would recommend the exercise for students in their profession (mean = 5.67 on a 6-point scale, SD = 1.05) and students would recommend the ISPE to a fellow student (mean = 5.34, SD = .89). Discussion Perceived achievement of the goals of the ISPE was evaluated through focus groups (one focus group for each profession). Students in all five focus groups reported appreciation for the opportunity to learn about other profession and to educate others about their own professional role. These findings contribute to the growing body of literature on efforts to generate positive attitudes toward interprofessional collaboration early in training, which may influence students' ability to be active and effective members of health care teams.

Keywords

• Interview
• Team
• IPE