Engaging Students in Large-Scale Interprofessional Learning Activities: Team-Based Learning (TBL) as a Pedagogical...

Interprofessional education (IPE) helps to prepare health professional students to deliver patient-centred care within collaborative team environments. However, large-scale delivery of IPE is challenging. Using team-based learning (TBL) as a teaching and learning strategy, we sought to develop, implement and evaluate a large-scale learning activity on 'understanding, and learning from errors'.

In 2023, 769 senior students from pharmacy (n = 145), nursing (n = 158), dentistry (n = 109), oral health (n = 46) and medicine (n = 311) were timetabled to participate in one of nine 2 h interprofessional sessions structured in TBL format, as a mandatory component of their unit of study. At least five facilitators from multiple disciplines were present at each session.

In total, 752/769 (98%) students attended their assigned TBL session. Following the TBL session, students were invited to complete a questionnaire using closed and open-ended items. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. Students reported that the TBL structure enabled interdisciplinary collaboration on a clinical scenario, immediate feedback, and the opportunity to better understand patient safety and the roles of different disciplines. However, some students felt the clinical scenario lacked relevance to their disciplines.

Our study provided a scalable and effective model for interprofessional learning using the TBL framework. In future iterations, consideration should be given to the number of disciplines per team, and the relevance of the clinical scenario.