A Case-Based, Brief, Intensive Interprofessional Education Experience for School Practitioners

Professionals from healthcare and education frequently work together to serve clients in public schools. We devised an interprofessional activity including students in occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech-language pathology, social work, and education in which students designed an interprofessional intervention program for a school child with complex needs. Allied health students who expressed interest in pediatric practice were recruited to participate. Students filled out the Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS), a Likert-scale measure of perceptions about related disciplines, before and after the experience. Quantitative analysis of responses on the IEPS showed a significant improvement in interdisciplinary perceptions after the experience as evidenced by higher IEPS scores. Qualitative analysis using a narrative thematic description of reflections on the experience confirmed this finding. These findings suggest a brief, intensive preservice interprofessional experience can have a positive effect on students' interprofessional attitudes, and points toward aspects of these experiences, including student-led discussions and small group conversations, that students find especially appealing.