Use of the Interprofessional Attitude Scale to Assess Nursing and Physical Therapy Students’ Attitudes Associated with Interprofessional Education Focused on Population Health for Veterans.
Purpose: Nursing (NSG) and physical therapy faculty developed an interprofessional education (IPE) course with outcomes based on Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) competencies with a unique focus on population health for Veterans. An overview of the course design and strategies used for successful collaboration with blended leadership will be provided. The results of a student survey using the Interprofessional Attitude Scale (IPAS) pre and post course will be discussed. The IPAS is a 28 item survey designed to assess attitudes related to the IPEC core competencies.1Methods/Description: IRB approval was obtained for a cross-sectional study to investigate whether there is a change in the attitudes of pre-licensure NSG and physical therapy students (SPT) following an innovative IPE course. All senior NSG and second year SPTs engaged in the IPE course were invited to complete the IPAS survey at the beginning and end of the course.Results/Outcomes: Preliminary data from the fall 2017 pre IPAS survey includes N = 76 (24 SPT; 52 NSG students). The IPAS uses a five point Likert-type scale. Results of t-tests indicate that significant differences in attitudes between student groups occurred with four of the pre IPAS survey items: 1. NSG students more strongly agreed (p= .022, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]= -0.66, -0.05) with “Shared learning with other health sciences students will increase my ability to understand clinical problems” (SPT M= 4.33, SD= 0.76 and NSG M= 4.69, SD= 0.54) 2. NSG students more strongly agreed (p=015, 95% CI -0.90, -0.10) that “I welcome the opportunity to work on small-group projects with other health sciences students” (SPT M= 4, SD= 0.97 and NSG M= 4.5, SD= 0.07) 3. SPTs more strongly agreed (p=.024, 95% CI =0.01, 0.18) with the statement “In my profession, one needs skill in interacting and cooperating with patients” (SPT M= 5, SD= 0 and NSG M= 4.9, SD= 0.29). 4. NSG students more strongly disagreed with the statement (p = .000, 95% CI=0.53, 1.39) “I have prejudices or make assumptions about health professionals/students from other disciplines” (SPT M= 3.67, SD= .761 and NSG M= 2.71, SD= 1.07). Results of the matched pre and post course surveys will be compared to determine if the course had a significant effect on student attitudes. Between group analysis will be performed to determine if significant differences exist between the SPT and NSG student attitudes with both pre and post course surveys. Post survey data will be collected May 2018.Conclusions/Relevance to the conference theme: Our Leadership Landscape: Perspectives from the Ground Level to 30,000 Feet: Blending leadership between professions is essential to develop IPE that is representative of professions involved to meet the needs of students involved. Ensuring that IPE has the intended effect of promoting respectful interprofessional collaboration is critical to achieving the aim of enhanced collaboration in clinical practice.2 Use of tools such as the IPAS survey should be incorporated to respond to baseline student attitude differences with course design and to determine the effect of IPE on student attitudes.References: 1. Norris J, Carpenter J, Blumenthal D, et al. The Development and Validation of the Interprofessional Attitudes Scale: Assessing the Interprofessional Attitudes of Students in the Health Professions. Academic Medicine: Journal of The Association of American Medical Colleges [serial online]. October 2015; 90(10): 1394-1400. Available from: MEDLINE Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed March 30, 2018. 2. Interprofessional Education Collaborative. (2016). Core competencies for interprofessional practice (update 2016). Washington, DC: Author