Interprofessional Education Perceptions of Dental Assisting and Radiologic Technology Students Following a Live...

Health professions students are often unaware of other health care providers' roles or professional expertise due to most education taking place within their single profession. This pattern may be even more prevalent for baccalaureate and associate degree programs since most interprofessional education (IPE) occurs in predoctoral programs and, when IPE is incorporated into allied health professions education, it often utilizes simulation instead of live patient experiences. The aim of this study was to determine if radiologic technology and dental assisting students' perceptions changed regarding interprofessional practice and teamwork after an IPE activity with actual patients. The participants were students in the University of Southern Indiana (USI) radiologic technology and dental assisting programs. This mixed-methods pilot study conducted in 2017 collected quantitative and qualitative data from pre and post surveys, the researchers' observations of student interactions during live patient assessment and acquisition of panoramic images, and large-group discussion. Twenty-five of the 26 students who participated in the IPE program completed both pre and post surveys, for a 96% response rate. The results showed significant differences in the participants' perceptions from the pre to post surveys on a wide variety of survey items. Most notable were the positive changes in perceptions related to trust in judgment of others within their profession (p=0.001), relationships with other professions (p=0.002), and thinking highly of other professions (p=0.002). Overall, this study found that incorporating the IPE activity with a live patient into these radiologic technology and dental assisting programs improved the students' perceptions of other allied health professionals. Future research should include more participants to increase sample size and add quantitative data collection.