A team-based interprofessional education course for first-year health professions students

Area of Science:

• Health Professions Education
• Interprofessional Collaboration
• Pedagogy

Background:

• Interprofessional education (IPE) is crucial for pharmacy and health professions.
• Small-group learning environments enhance engagement in IPE sub-domains.
• Situated learning theory informed the design of an interactive IPE course.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe an introductory, team-based IPE course for first-year health professions students.
• To utilize small-group methods for teaching interprofessional collaboration.
• To assess the effectiveness of a classroom-based IPE strategy.

Main Methods:

• A 14-week required course for 554 first-year health sciences students from eight professions.
• Focus on Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) Core Competencies.
• Interprofessional teams engaged in simulations, case studies, and patient safety rotations.

Main Results:

• Significant improvement in students' self-assessed competency in learning objectives (p < 0.01).
• Positive shifts in students' perceptions of other professions observed.
• High student satisfaction reported through end-of-course evaluations.

Conclusions:

• The team-based, small-group IPE course was considered a success.
• The interactive, classroom-based strategy effectively facilitated interprofessional learning.
• Triangulation of assessment methods supported the positive outcomes.