Comparing four methods for assessing interprofessional learning in a practice setting.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Education
• Interprofessional Collaboration
• Teamwork Assessment

Background:

• Healthcare teams require effective collaboration among diverse professionals.
• Assessing interprofessional teamwork in dynamic, learner-based settings presents significant challenges.
• Variability in daily team composition complicates consistent evaluation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate interprofessional teamwork effectiveness among student teams in a dynamic practice setting.
• To examine the relationships between multiple assessment perspectives of team effectiveness.
• To identify predictors influencing team effectiveness ratings.

Main Methods:

• Utilized four distinct measures: student perceptions, patient ratings, observer ratings, and faculty assessments.
• Sampled 100 patient visits involving interprofessional student teams in a community wellness program.
• Employed bivariate correlations and regression analyses to analyze data.

Main Results:

• Small, significant negative correlations found between faculty/observer and faculty/patient ratings.
• A small, significant positive correlation observed between patient/observer ratings.
• Faculty and patient ratings were more strongly predicted by measured variables (R-squared 53.6% and 41.7%).
• Patient age, visit history, team size, and clinic site impacted team effectiveness ratings.

Conclusions:

• Different perspectives measure distinct constructs of team effectiveness.
• Multiple measures are essential for a comprehensive understanding of team performance in interprofessional education (IPE) settings.
• Simple measurement approaches may inaccurately represent learning and clinical outcomes in complex healthcare environments.