Impact on physical therapy and audiology students of an interprofessional case-based learning experience in education...

Vestibular disorders are quite common and can cause significant disability. Diagnosis and treatment of these disorders is very complex, requiring multidisciplinary input including physical therapy (PT) and audiology (AUD). The purpose of this research was to determine if an interprofessional educational experience between the PT and AUD students will increases the students' confidence in their knowledge of the role of the other discipline, circumstances which would require referral to the other discipline, and communication with individuals from the other discipline. PT and AUD students were divided into small groups and worked through an unfolding case. A paper-and-pencil survey was utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of the experience. Mann-Whitney U-tests demonstrated no significant difference between the confidence levels of PT and AUD students pre-test and post-test. Wilcoxon signed ranks tests demonstrated statistically significant gains in confidence levels on all items from pre-test to posttest. The authors attribute these gains to interprofessional collaboration, case-based learning, and discipline- specific facilitation. In the future, this exercise would benefit from additional disciplines. The outcomes strengthen the research that interprofessional education and case-based learning are effective methods of education. This should lead to increased communication in clinical settings and ultimately improved patient outcomes.