Quantifying Interprofessional Education in Clinical Education to Enhance the Student Experience: A Pilot Study
Purpose/Hypothesis: This project seeks to fill a gap in the literature by developing an IPE framework to quantify the Interprofessional Education (IPE) experience in clinical education. A formal program for IPE was implemented at our facility to meet CAPTE requirements and enhance students’ understanding of and involvement in IPE in the clinical setting. The purpose of this study is to quantify the IPE experience at our facility. We hypothesize that by tracking experiences we will confirm that all students will report an increase in the number of experiences and level of active involvement in IPE from week 1 to week 8; specifically, more students will report leading IPE activities at week 8.
Number of Subjects: 6 Physical and Occupational Therapy students completing their terminal clinical education experience in an inpatient rehab facility.
Materials and Methods: Physical and Occupational Therapy students completed a weekly IPE tracking log for the first 8 weeks of their clinical affiliations in our inpatient rehab facility. This log captured information on the number, type (i.e. coordination of plan of care with therapist, nurse, physician, involvement in Student Seminar Series, reporting in interdisciplinary team conferences, or other) and level of IPE involvement (observed, participated, and led).
Results: To date, 6 out of 6 students have participated in this study, 3 PT and 3 OT. Every student reported involvement in IPE across all 8 weeks. Experience in every category of IPE was achieved in all but the first week, as the first week of the experience is focused on orientation to the facility and caseload development. By week 3, 2 out of 6 students started to lead experiences. By week 8, 6 out of 6 students reported an increase in level of involvement, with 5 out of 6 leading a greater number of IPE categories.
Conclusions: Preliminary findings demonstrate that every student reported involvement in IPE throughout all 8 weeks, meeting CAPTE standards for inclusion of IPE in the clinical setting. There was an increase in the level of involvement (from observing to leading) with most students leading IPE activities by week 8.
Clinical Relevance: A tracking log may be a useful tool to monitor IPE and set IPE-centered goals. After quantifying in-clinic IPE experiences, CIs can prepare students to become interprofessional practitioners by ensuring they are exposed to the identified experiences. Students gaining experience in IPE will help to ensure that they lead these activities by the end of their affiliation and demonstrate preparedness for more independent interprofessional collaboration when entering the workforce.