Interprofessional residency education: A pilot program with physical therapy and family medicine residents
Purpose: The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of a year-long Interprofessional Residency Education (IPRE) experience. Secondary aims include investigating the effects of the IPRE experience on residents’ knowledge, perceptions, and beliefs about IPRE, interprofessional communication and collaboration, and each other’s profession and professional roles.Methods/Description: Physicians enrolled in a family medicine residency program (n=3) and physical therapists enrolled in a geriatrics residency (n=3), women’s health residency (n =3), and an orthopaedic manual physical therapy fellowship program (n=3, herein referred to as residents) participated in a year-long IPRE experience as part of their residency curriculum. Residents from the physical therapy residencies were partnered with a year-3 family medicine resident who had special interest in the areas of practice represented by the physical therapy residency programs. The IPRE included: 1) facilitated discussions on professional training, roles, and communication; 2) clinical shadowing experiences; 3) collaborative case reports; and 4) reflective narratives. A mixed methods approach was used to evaluate learner outcomes. Quantitative analyses were conducted on program specific and standardized interprofessional education (IPE) instruments including the Attitudes to Health Professions Scale, Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale, and the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale. Qualitative analyses included thematic analysis of submitted responses to discussion questions, case reports, and reflective narratives.Results/Outcomes: The IPRE has currently been underway for 8 months indicating the feasibility of sustaining the experience over the course of the residency year. Preliminary qualitative results indicate that learners found the IPRE to be a valuable experience with reported gains in knowledge and understanding about professional roles and greater appreciation of the need for and ability to perform interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP). Quantitative and additional qualitative results will be analyzed after completion of the year-long experience in June. Challenges to the IRPE include ensuring regular contact between resident-partners, timely submission of reflective narratives, and scheduling of meaningful shadowing experiences.Conclusions/Relevance to the conference theme: Our Leadership Landscape: Perspectives from the Ground Level to 30,000 Feet: Improving IPCP remains an important goal across healthcare professions. The majority of IPE research has focused at the professional education level. Residency training is a period where healthcare professionals establish practice patterns that are likely to shape their practice for the remainder of their careers. As educational leaders, it is important for residency program directors across professions to develop educational experiences that will help establish IPCP patterns during this important period of professional training. This pilot study suggests one feasible model for such experiences.References: Cooper H, Geyer R. Using 'complexity' for improving educational research in health care. Social science & medicine (1982). 2008;67(1):177-182. da Motta LB, Pacheco LC. Integrating medical and health multiprofessional residency programs: the experience in building an interprofessional curriculum for health professionals in Brazil. Education for health (Abingdon, England). 2014;27(1):83-88. Haddara W, Lingard L. Are we all of the same page? A discourse analysis of interprofessional collaboration. Academic Medicine. 2013;88:1509-1515. Hall P. Interprofessional teamwork: Professional cultures as barriers. Journal of Interprofessional Care. 2005;19(Suppl. 1):188-196. Interprofessional Education Collaborative Expert Panel. Core competencies for interprofessional collaborative practice: Report of an expert panel. Washington, D.C.: Interprofessional Education Collaborative; May 2011. Kolb DA, Boyatzis RE, Mainemelis C. Experiential learning theory: Previous research and new directions. In: Sternberg RJ, Zhang LF, eds. Perspectives on cognitive, learning, and thinking styles. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum; 1999. Mandy A, Milton C, Mandy P. Professional stereotyping and interprofessional education. Learning in Health and Social Care. 2014;3(3):154-170. Mohaupt J, van Soeren M, Andrusyszyn M-A, MacMillan K, Delvin-Cop S, Reeves S. Understanding interprofessional relationships by the use of contact theory. Jounal of Interprofessional Care. 2012;26:370-375. World Health Organization. Framework for action on interprofessional education and collaborative practice. Geneva: World Health Organization;2010.