Integrating an Interprofessional Education Experience Into a Human Physiology Course.

Area of Science:

• Health Professions Education
• Interprofessional Practice
• Medical Education

Background:

• Interprofessional education (IPE) is crucial for developing collaborative healthcare professionals.
• Integrating IPE into existing health science curricula can enhance student learning and readiness for practice.
• Physician assistant (PA) programs increasingly emphasize IPE to meet evolving healthcare demands.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate physician assistant (PA) student perceptions of an interprofessional education (IPE) experience.
• To assess the impact of an IPE training embedded in a multidisciplinary science course on PA students' understanding of IPEC competencies.
• To gauge PA students' self-perceived changes in interprofessional roles, responsibilities, and teamwork skills.

Main Methods:

• An IPE activity was integrated into a graduate human physiology course for PA, physical therapy, and graduate studies students.
• The IPE focused on Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) competency domains: roles/responsibilities and teams/teamwork.
• Pre- and post-training surveys assessed student self-perceptions, learning activity evaluations, and reflections.

Main Results:

• PA students demonstrated statistically significant positive changes in their perceptions of IPEC competency domains.
• Students reported a positive evaluation of the integrated IPE learning activity.
• Participants communicated personal improvements in their interprofessional perspectives and skills.

Conclusions:

• Multidisciplinary health science courses provide a suitable environment for planned IPE experiences for PA students.
• Integrating IPE into coursework effectively facilitates the learning and application of interprofessional competencies.
• This approach can positively influence future interprofessional practice and patient care outcomes.