Can interprofessional case conferences effectively teach interprofessional core competencies? A case study

The establishment of interprofessional education (IPE) as an effective method for training future health care providers, the subsequent establishment of IPE requirements in accreditation standards, and the challenges to integrating IPE into professional-centric curricula have created an environment that encourages opportunity for innovation and collaboration in curriculum design.

Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) Core Competencies were integrated into an Interprofessional Case Conference (ICC) model that included six annual case conferences involving students from eight health professions across multiple campuses. Students worked in groups of eight with no more than two students from each profession per group. Interprofessional teams facilitated live progressive cases consisting of iterative guided student discussion alternating with group problem solving, followed by "talk-show style" reports. A retrospective pre-post study design using the validated IPEC Competency Self-Assessment V3 and Student Perspective of Interprofessional Clinical Education tools assessed student perspectives of the ICC model. The online survey was sent to participants who attended at least one ICC in 2015-2016 and 2016-2017.

Pre-/post-data was available from 94 students. Results revealed modest, but significant, score changes across both instruments, confirming the value of IPE and the ICC training model.

The ICC formula allowed flexibility in applying IPE, resolved scheduling and resources challenges, complemented other IPE programming, and assisted in meeting pharmacy accreditation requirements and the diverse IPE needs of health professions education. The model is flexible, inexpensive, and could be readily replicated at other institutions.