Interprofessional Education in a Psychiatry Clerkship

The purpose of this initiative was to encourage medical students to develop collaborative relationships with healthcare team members during a required psychiatry clerkship and reflect upon their demonstration of interprofessional competencies.

During the clerkship, third year medical students were required to complete two interprofessional activities (from a menu of 18 potential options) in conjunction with nurses, therapists, care coordinators, behavioral health specialists, peer specialists, unit secretaries, or unit managers during care of mutual patients. After completing these activities, students completed a reflection in which they self-reported how they had accomplished specific interprofessional competencies (quantitative and qualitative); the healthcare team members with whom the students collaborated also completed a corresponding reflection (quantitative) of students' interprofessional competence, based upon their interactions.

Quantitative feedback from students and staff was paired to look for correlations. Paired responses produced a dataset that included 67 students' self-reflections and 110 feedback submissions from staff. Overall, there was much similarity between students' self-assessment ratings and ratings provided by staff members. Qualitative analysis of students' written feedback indicated they took initiative to take on new roles to support the care team and intentionally sought out healthcare teammates to learn about their roles and to better care for patients. Reflections highlight examples of student advocacy and empathy for patients they served.

Results demonstrate that clerkship-based interprofessional education initiatives, designed with intentionality, promote interprofessional collaborative practices and prepare medical students for achieving residency milestones related to interprofessional collaboration.