Using team-based interprofessional education to enhance student knowledge of healthcare professional roles
Using team-based interprofessional education to enhance student knowledge of healthcare professional roles
Academic Year:
2014 - 2015 (June 1, 2014 through May 31, 2015)
Funding Requested:
$3,000.00
Project Dates:
-
Applicant(s):
Overview of the Project:
Since the Institute of Medicine first announced the need for all health professionals to be educated in interdisciplinary teams, health professional schools across the country have worked to incorporate interprofessional education (IPE) into their curricula. This January at the University of Michigan we launched a new IPE course that brings together more than 250 students from five health professions to learn about interprofessional collaboration in healthcare. The course is designed to focus on two core competencies for IPE – professional roles and teamwork. This project is specific to assessing the impact of an innovative pedagogy where students teach students about their respective professions on knowledge gained about professional roles, and will use a survey instrument designed by the 11-member faculty team. Data from this project will inform the faculty team and the broader educational community about ways in which this unique pedagogy can be used to expand interprofessional education. In addition, the survey instrument developed by the faculty team is innovative. There are several assessment tools readily available to measure students' attitudes and beliefs about interprofessional education and practice, but no tools that measure learning about professional roles within the healthcare team. If the survey instrument proves to be a valid tool for measuring knowledge improvement in professional roles, it could be of broad interest to other colleges that are developing coursework in IPE in healthcare.