Medicine Pharmacy Interprofessional Exercise Pilot: Lessons Learned

Area of Science:

• Health Professions Education
• Interprofessional Collaboration
• Medical and Pharmacy Education

Background:

• Interprofessional Education (IPE) is increasingly integrated into health professions accreditation.
• The Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) was formed in 2009 to advance IPE.
• Despite a history of collaboration, formal joint curricular offerings between medicine and pharmacy programs were limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a collaborative medicine-pharmacy exercise to address IPE competencies.
• To compare attitudes and perceptions toward interprofessional education and practice between medical and pharmacy students.

Main Methods:

• An observational, cross-sectional study involving 208 third-year medical (M3) and 108 third-year pharmacy (P3) students.
• Students collaborated on patient cases involving multiple prescriptions, discussing medications, side effects, cost, and interactions.
• Surveys were administered post-exercise, with data analyzed in relation to IPEC competencies.

Main Results:

• Medical students showed willingness to consult with PharmD professionals in the future (48.2% agreed, 21.2% strongly agreed).
• Pharmacy students perceived leadership roles more frequently (56.5% vs. 27.4%, p<0.0001).
• Pharmacy students reported greater improvements in confidence (50.0% vs. 30.2%, p=0.0014) and communication skills (48.2% vs. 28.3%, p=0.0043) compared to medical students.

Conclusions:

• Further research is needed to ensure equitable adoption of IPE by medical and pharmacy students.
• Emphasis should be placed on balanced training, team value, and direct patient care experiences for both disciplines.
• Enhanced interprofessional collaboration requires face-to-face interaction and a focus on mutual respect among team members.