Interprofessional Service Learning in Medical Education: a Year-Over-Year Assessment of Student Feedback

Community service learning has been extolled as an effective vehicle for interprofessional education based upon studies assessing the short-term impact of these experiences on positive team behaviors and communication skills. Through this study, the authors explore year-over-year student impressions of an interprofessional service learning program to determine whether the short-term successes detailed in prior studies are sustainable over time. Course evaluations were collected from 168 first-year medical students (M1) at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine (VTCSOM) over a 4-year period beginning in 2013 and ending in 2017. All 238 current and former VTCSOM students were also prospectively surveyed and 87 (37%) responses were received. Study results indicate that first-year medical students consistently find interprofessional service learning opportunities to be valuable with regard to improving understanding of the roles of other health professionals, as well as helping to generate positive team behaviors. However, as students progress through their medical education and beyond, they may perceive the skills learned and obstacles encountered through these opportunities to be less generalizable to a clinical setting. These findings add to a growing body of evidence supporting the efficacy of service learning in interprofessional education. However, they also suggest that a potential divide may exist between the intended goals of these experiences at an administrative level and the team-based behaviors and communication skills that clinical students and practicing physicians use to navigate interprofessional conflict in the workplace.