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Schack-Dugre J1, Snyder K2, Utley J3
1Univeristy of Florida, Department of Physical Therapy, Gainesville, United States, 2University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences, College of Rehabilitative Sciences, St. Augustine, United States, 3University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences, College of Health Sciences, St. Augustine, United States
Background: High volumes of travelers and medical tourists create an expanding need for healthcare teams to be able to communicate and collaborate at a distance. The medical tourism world market in 2016 was valued at $46.5 billion and is projected to surge to $160.8 billion in less than 10 years. Interprofessional education (IPE) is an effective strategy to successfully teach skills necessary to meet the needs of evolving healthcare teams. Higher education continues to become more informed and experience greater utilization of online mediums to deliver healthcare content. Interprofessional online experiences provide an opportunity to examine effectiveness of IPE in global health education.
Although, global inclusivity can be harnessed through web-based communication and collaboration, logistics continue to be a barrier to IPE implementation. Academic institutions preparing physical therapists and other health professionals to collaborate within a global team can use online delivery modalities to solve these key challenges. The ability to extend IPE activities using online platforms to students in other countries provides physical therapists and other health professions an opportunity to experience global health delivery in other parts of the world without having to travel.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare outcomes of an IPE activity delivered in a hybrid environment (online and face-to-face) to a traditional online delivery format to distinguish if any differences are found in attitudes toward IPE and collaborative practice.
Methods: The research utilized a quasi-experimental pre/post survey research design examining an interprofessional educational intervention. The Interprofessional Socialization and Valuing Scale-21 (ISVS-21) was used to measure a change in knowledge and attitudes toward interprofessional collaboration. Participants (N=66) completed the online survey before and after the interprofessional intervention, which consisted of a series of collaborative interprofessional case studies with resultant individual and/or team assessment artifacts. Participants included post-professional master and doctoral students who represented seven healthcare professions in a required first-term online introductory interprofessional course. Representative professions included physical therapists, occupational therapists, athletic trainers, nurses, healthcare administrators, health science professionals, and healthcare educators. All students had the option of completing the final 3 units of the course either online or by attending a 3-day face-to-face, on-campus session; face-to-face attendees completed the course in an accelerated manner.
Results: There was no statistically significant difference between groups as determined by the one-way ANOVA (F(1,64)= .082, p=.776). While not significant, participants in the hybrid model (n=36) showed slightly higher mean change scores (M=23.0, SD=27.4) as compared to participants in the traditional online model (n=30; M=21.1, SD=24.2).
Conclusion(s): There is no increased advantage to using a hybrid model that incorporates attending a face-to-face session when attempting to change knowledge and attitudes regarding interprofessional team collaboration.
Implications: The development of enhanced interprofessional collaborative skills may not require being in the same location with other members of the healthcare team. Propinquity may create a sense of community that offers other benefits in healthcare delivery. However, fostering collaboration through synchronous online activities may be equally effective yet more economical and efficient to execute.
Keywords: interprofessional education, global health, online collaboration
Funding acknowledgements: No funding
Although, global inclusivity can be harnessed through web-based communication and collaboration, logistics continue to be a barrier to IPE implementation. Academic institutions preparing physical therapists and other health professionals to collaborate within a global team can use online delivery modalities to solve these key challenges. The ability to extend IPE activities using online platforms to students in other countries provides physical therapists and other health professions an opportunity to experience global health delivery in other parts of the world without having to travel.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare outcomes of an IPE activity delivered in a hybrid environment (online and face-to-face) to a traditional online delivery format to distinguish if any differences are found in attitudes toward IPE and collaborative practice.
Methods: The research utilized a quasi-experimental pre/post survey research design examining an interprofessional educational intervention. The Interprofessional Socialization and Valuing Scale-21 (ISVS-21) was used to measure a change in knowledge and attitudes toward interprofessional collaboration. Participants (N=66) completed the online survey before and after the interprofessional intervention, which consisted of a series of collaborative interprofessional case studies with resultant individual and/or team assessment artifacts. Participants included post-professional master and doctoral students who represented seven healthcare professions in a required first-term online introductory interprofessional course. Representative professions included physical therapists, occupational therapists, athletic trainers, nurses, healthcare administrators, health science professionals, and healthcare educators. All students had the option of completing the final 3 units of the course either online or by attending a 3-day face-to-face, on-campus session; face-to-face attendees completed the course in an accelerated manner.
Results: There was no statistically significant difference between groups as determined by the one-way ANOVA (F(1,64)= .082, p=.776). While not significant, participants in the hybrid model (n=36) showed slightly higher mean change scores (M=23.0, SD=27.4) as compared to participants in the traditional online model (n=30; M=21.1, SD=24.2).
Conclusion(s): There is no increased advantage to using a hybrid model that incorporates attending a face-to-face session when attempting to change knowledge and attitudes regarding interprofessional team collaboration.
Implications: The development of enhanced interprofessional collaborative skills may not require being in the same location with other members of the healthcare team. Propinquity may create a sense of community that offers other benefits in healthcare delivery. However, fostering collaboration through synchronous online activities may be equally effective yet more economical and efficient to execute.
Keywords: interprofessional education, global health, online collaboration
Funding acknowledgements: No funding
Topic: Education
Ethics approval required: Yes
Institution: University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences
Ethics committee: Institutional REview Board
Ethics number: UR-1018-229
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
