EXPLORING INTERPROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION IN TEACHING BETWEEN NURSING AND PHYSICAL THERAPY

D. Romano¹, R. Collier¹, T. Komor¹, L.-M. Sprague¹

¹Binghamton University, Binghamton, United States

Background: Integrating interprofessional concepts and competencies in the classroom teaches students to perform successfully in complex interprofessional care environments. There is little information regarding the effects of interprofessional collaboration in education utilizing faculty and students from other disciplines. Nursing students enrolled in the Bachelor of Nursing program at a large Northeastern public university in the United States participated in simulation lab activities as part of a required nursing course in their first junior semester. Lab experiences consisted of instruction in assistive device use, gait training, transfers, and bed mobility and a competency evaluation of bed mobility and transfer skills. As experts in this content area, two physical therapy educators assisted nursing faculty with instruction for two of the four lab days and all competency evaluations for the students. In addition to instruction and assessment, the physical therapy educators provided insight into their role in patient care and answered questions related to their discipline during the lab activities.

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed methods case study was to explore nursing students’ perceptions of and satisfaction with an interprofessional collaboration between nursing and physical therapy educators.

Methods: At the conclusion of the semester, 31 nursing students completed a survey consisting of researcher-developed open-ended questions and the Satisfaction and Self-Confidence in Learning Survey (SCLS) to provide insight into the students’ perceptions of interprofessional collaboration in teaching. Analyses of SCLS scores and written responses were performed.

Results: SCLS scores were statistically significantly higher on days when physical therapy educators participated in teaching students compared to days students were taught only by nursing faculty, indicating that the presence of physical therapy educators contributed to both satisfaction and confidence in nursing students. Analysis of written responses revealed five themes: appreciation of an outside expert perspective, enhanced self-efficacy with patient mobility skills, opportunity for interprofessional collaboration, satisfaction with the learning experience, and conflicting information.

Conclusions: Interprofessional collaboration in teaching between nursing and physical therapy educators resulted in high levels of satisfaction and self-confidence and provided an opportunity to work toward achieving an aspect of core competency for interprofessional collaborative practice.

Implications: This study suggests that this type of educational experience may be a viable way to work toward achieving an aspect of interprofessional core competency broadening the possibilities of effective IPE beyond those approaches that require bringing together students from multiple disciplines. This can contribute toward the development of interprofessional collaboration in practice skills required of future health professionals to meet the needs of a complex and diverse patient population.

Funding acknowledgements: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Keywords:
Interprofessional teaching
Physical therapy
Nursing

Topics:
Education
Education: methods of teaching & learning

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: Binghamton University

Committee: Binghamton University IRB

Ethics number: STUDY00003334