Implementing an interfaculty series of courses on interprofessional collaboration in prelicensure health science...

Interprofessional collaborative practices are increasingly recognized as an effective way to deal with complex health problems. However, health sciences students continue to be trained in specialized programs and have little occasion for learning in interdisciplinary contexts.

The project's purpose was to develop content and an educational design for new prelicensure interfaculty courses on interprofessional collaboration in patient and family-centered care which embedded interprofessional education principles where participants learn with, from and about each other.

Intensive training was part of a 45-hour program, offered each semester, which was divided into three 15-hour courses given on weekends, to enhance accessibility.

A total of 215 students completed questionnaires following the courses, to assess their satisfaction with the educational content. Pre/post measures assessed perception of skills acquisition and perceived benefits of interprofessional collaboration training. Results showed a significant increase from the students' point of view in the knowledge and benefits to be gained from interprofessional collaboration training.

The implementation of an interfaculty training curriculum on interprofessional collaborative practice is challenging in many ways, though it offers a true opportunity to prepare future health human resources for contemporary practice requirements.