Heckendorn T.1, McGinnis P.Q.1, Galantino M.L.1,2,3
1Stockton University, Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) Program, Galloway, United States, 2University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine, Philadelphia, United States, 3University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Background: Students and faculty from the School of Health Sciences at Stockton University traveled to Bogota, Colombia in South America and participated in academic, clinical, and cultural exchange activities.
Purpose: To determine meaningful change regarding interprofessional relationships amongst various health care provider students when working with patients in a different cultural setting.
Methods: Six faculty and 20 students from five disciplines participated in the experience including 16 graduate students (DPT n=4; MSOT n=11; MSCD n=1) and 4 undergraduate students (BSN n=3; Biology Pre-PT n=1). Mean age of students was 28.3 years (range: 20-58 years) with 4 males and 16 females. The Interprofessional Collaborator Assessment Rubric (ICAR) was given to each participant prior to the interprofessional education (IPE) experience and repeated at the conclusion of the week-long experience for self-assessment. The ICAR highlighted six competency domains including
1) Communication,
2) Collaboration,
3) Roles and Responsibility,
4) Collaborative Patient/Client-Family Centered Approach,
5) Team Functioning and
6) Conflict Management/Resolution.
These six competency domains were further divided into 19 dimensions to assess performance on a 4-point scale (1=Minimal, 2=Developing, 3=Competent, 4=Mastery). Qualitative comments regarding the impact of IP experience were also collected.
Results: Descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon Rank Sum analysis (SPSS 21.0) resulted in all 19 subcategories with positive trends. Fifteen of the 19 dimensions showed statistically significant improvement (p .05). Most students rated each dimension on either a developing (2) or competent (3) level prior to the trip and progressed towards mastery (4) as a result of the experience. Notable improvements were seen within the Shared Leadership domain, students expressed a 72.3% competency pre-trip which improved to an 87.5% competency rating post-trip. Interprofessional Communication Strategies also improved from 72.6% to 85.8% competence. The students´ confidence with Patient Advocacy in Decision Making improved from 80.5% to 97.3% using this team-based model. Open ended responses regarding improvements for future international IPE experiences included
1) additional interdisciplinary clinic visits, rather than clinic sites according to area of healthcare specialty, and
2) debriefing discussion groups after clinic sessions for further information sharing.
Conclusion(s): This international experience offers undergraduate and graduate healthcare students an opportunity to develop interprofessional relationships across core competency domains. It may deepen graduates experiences to enter their field and work collaboratively with other disciplines for improved continuity of patient care. Further enhancements may include increased interprofessional debriefing sessions and incorporation of additional interdisciplinary clinic visits to foster rich and meaningful interaction.
Implications: This international IPE experience provides a template for future colleges and universities to implement similar learning experiences to inspire interprofessional development and cultural appreciation. The ICAR may be used as an outcome measure to help quantify this interprofessional growth.
Funding acknowledgements: Partial funding was granted by both Stockton University´s Student Senate and Graduate Studies, through a Distinguished Graduate Research Fellowship
Topic: Education: methods of teaching & learning
Ethics approval: Stockton University´s Institutional Review Board (IRB)
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
