Longitudinal outcomes of a brief interprofessional educational experience with or without an interprofessional...

Best practices for delivering interprofessional education (IPE) continue to be debated. The objective of this study was to compare the longitudinal effects of two different methods of delivering IPE: a one-day IPE symposium (Symposium Only) vs. a one-day symposium plus a semester-long IPE course (Symposium + IPE). 40 Health Services Administration (HSA) and 57 Occupational Therapy (OT) students participated in this study. Participant attitudes in the Symposium Only group were compared to participant attitudes in the Symposium + IPE group using the Attitudes toward Health Care Teams Scale (ATHCTS). Participants completed the survey prior to the symposium (Time 1), immediately after the symposium (Time 2), and at least 18 months after the symposium (Time 3). A series of one-way repeated measures ANOVAs indicated that students in either the Symposium Only or Symposium +IPE group showed significantly better attitudes toward interprofessional teamwork at Time 2, and that these attitudes were maintained at Time 3. This was true for total ATHCTS, the Physician Centrality subscale, and Quality of Care/Process subscale. While the addition of the semester-long IPE course negatively impacted attitudes toward interprofessional teamwork in the short-term (at Time 2), it had no negative long-term impact at Time 3. Long-term, it appears that adding a semester-long course to a one-day symposium had no impact on attitude toward interprofessional teamwork.