Evaluating Interprofessional Team Performance: A Faculty Rater Tool

Reliable team assessment has become a priority because of growing emphasis on interprofessional education and team-based care. Objective rating scales are needed to evaluate interprofessional student teams and individuals and provide real-time feedback.

In response to a need for behavioral rating scales, we modified the McMaster-Ottawa Scale from a 9-point to a 3-point scale and added descriptive behavioral anchors to define three levels of competency (i.e., below, at, and above expected). This modification is intended to provide consistent rating of individuals and teams in patient settings. We then developed a demonstration video using actors representing four professions to demonstrate the three levels of performance within the team. Our faculty rater tool, consisting of the modified scale and video, is designed to provide standardized ratings in interprofessional educational settings that involve patient care.

We conducted training sessions with 40 faculty members from seven professions (medicine, dentistry, occupational therapy, nursing, pharmacy, physician assistant, and psychology) over a 2-year period. Immediately after each training session, two trained faculty observers rated interprofessional student teams as they conducted history and assessments on standardized patients. Observer scores were compared with one another and with standard expert ratings of the same teams. Trained observer ratings were consistent across the pairs. The observer training can be conducted within 60-90 minutes with the tool.

Results of our implementation of the faculty rater tool confirm that the modified McMaster-Ottawa Scale is feasible to administer in clinical settings and that the demonstration video can be easily adopted for standardizing observer ratings.