Alumni perspectives on interprofessional experiential learning and interprofessional collaborative practice in health...

Area of Science:

• Health Professions Education
• Interprofessional Education
• Experiential Learning

Background:

• Interprofessional collaborative practice (ICP) is crucial for patient outcomes.
• Experiential learning (EL) models ICP for students.
• The long-term impact of EL on alumni clinical practice is understudied.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify ICP opportunities available to alumni in healthcare settings.
• To explore the early career impact of interprofessional EL on alumni's self-reported clinical practice.

Main Methods:

• Mixed-methods design combining descriptive statistics and phenomenology.
• Participants: 17 alumni from Doctor of Physical Therapy and Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy programs.
• Data collection: Interviews analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Main Results:

• Five themes emerged: impact on practice, value of holistic approaches, collaboration in care, interconnected systems, and empathy development.
• Interprofessional EL improved communication skills and fostered holistic care approaches.
• Alumni reported positive effects on their clinical practice.

Conclusions:

• Interprofessional EL positively influences alumni's clinical practice.
• Study findings support the continued integration of interprofessional EL in graduate health programs.
• EL enhances graduates' ability to engage in collaborative, holistic patient care.