Assessing students' and health professionals' competency learning from interprofessional education collaborative...

Area of Science:

• Health Professions Education
• Interprofessional Collaboration
• Healthcare Workforce Development

Background:

• Interprofessional education (IPE) is crucial for developing collaborative practice-ready health professionals.
• A partnership between California State University, Fresno, and Valley Children's Healthcare established an IPE collaborative.
• This initiative offers workshops aligning healthcare topics with 2016 Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) core competencies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of IPE workshops on interprofessional learning.
• To assess if improvements in core competencies differed between students and health professionals.
• To determine the effectiveness of the IPEC Competency Self-Assessment Tool in measuring these changes.

Main Methods:

• Two cross-sectional studies utilized a pre/post design with the IPEC Competency Self-Assessment Tool.
• Study 1 involved a Pediatric Head Injury workshop (N=19 students, N=22 professionals).
• Study 2 focused on an Error Disclosure workshop (N=26 students, N=29 professionals).

Main Results:

• The IPEC Competency Self-Assessment Tool differentiated competency ratings between students and health professionals.
• Participation in IPE workshops positively influenced self-assessed interprofessional competencies for both groups.
• Improvements were observed in both the Pediatric Head Injury and Error Disclosure workshop participants.

Conclusions:

• IPE workshops effectively enhance self-perceived interprofessional competencies among students and health professionals.
• The IPEC Competency Self-Assessment Tool is a valid instrument for measuring changes in interprofessional competencies.
• This collaborative model demonstrates a successful approach to interprofessional workforce development.