Discharge Day: A Case-Based Interprofessional Exercise About Team Collaboration in Pediatrics

Interprofessional education, which gives medical students the opportunity to learn from, with, and about other health professionals, is an essential component of the undergraduate medical education curriculum. Nonetheless, deliberate and sustained integration of interprofessional education into the undergraduate medical learning experience can be challenging, especially within the clinical setting.

We implemented a 75-minute, interactive, collaborative, case-based conference focusing on an interprofessional clinical challenge in a pediatric setting. Medical students on their pediatrics core rotation and trainees within social work, nursing, pharmacy, and nutrition explored the concept of a team, reflected on roles, and considered how interprofessional collaboration could influence patient outcomes.

One hundred ninety-two health professions students participated in 15 sessions at three sites over a 10-month period (September 2017-July 2018). After each session, participants completed a session evaluation. They gave high ratings to the effectiveness and relevance of the experience and the case vignette. Responses to open-ended questions revealed that students had learned the importance of leveraging the expertise of team members and had resolved to speak up when faced with an interprofessional challenge in the future.

This case-based session is a logistically feasible and positively received opportunity for health professions students to discuss interprofessional collaboration. It could be adapted for a variety of learner populations and academic environments and could be incorporated into existing curricula.